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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00022226360 


THE   WATER-BABIES 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/waterbabiesfairyOking 


'• 


TO 

MY  YOUNGEST  SON 

GRENVILLE  ARTHUR 

AND 

TO  ALL  OTHER  GOOD  LITTLE  BOYS 


COME  BEAD  ME  MY  RIDDLE,   EACH  GOOD  LITTLE  MAN  ; 
IF  YOU  CANNOT  READ  IT,  NO  GROWN-UP  FOLK  CAN, 


THE    WATER-BABIES 


CHAPTER  L 


NCE  upon  a  time  ther$ 
was  a  little  chimney- 
sweep, and  his  name 
was  Tom.  That  is  a  short  name,  and  you  have  heard 
it  before,  so  you  will  not  have  much  trouble  in  remem- 
bering it.  He  lived  in  a  great  town  in  the  North  coun- 
try, where  there  were  plenty  of  chimneys  to  sweep,  and 
plenty  of  money  for  Tom  to  earn  and  his  master  to 
spend.  He  could  not  read  nor  write,  and  did  not  care 
to  do  either  ;  and  he  never  washed  himself,  for  there  wap 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


no  water  up  the  court  where  lie  lived.  He  had  never 
been  taught  to  say  his  prayers.  He  never  had  heard  of 
God,  or  of  Christ,  except  in  words  which  you  never  have 
heard,  and  which  it  would  have  been  well  if  he  had  never 
heard.  He  cried  half  his  time,  and  laughed  the  other 
half.  He  cried  when  he  had  to  climb  the  dark  flues,  rub- 
bing his  poor  knees  and  elbows  raw  ;  and  when  the  soot 
got  into  his  eyes,  which  it  did  every  day  in  the  week  ; 
and  when  his  master  beat  him,  which  he  did  every  day 
in  the  week  ;  and  when  he  had  not  enough  to  eat,  which 

happened  every  day 
in  the  week  like- 
wise. And  he 
laughed  the  other 
half  of  the  day,  when 
he  was  tossing  half- 
pennies with  the 
other  boys,  or  play- 
g,  ing  leap-frog  over 
the  posts,  or  bowling 
stones  at  the  horses' 
legs  as  they  trotted 
by,  which  last  was 
excellent  fun,  when 
there  was  a  wall  at  hand  behind  which  to  hide.  As  for 
chimney-sweeping,  and  being  hungry,  and  being  beaten. 
he  took  all  that  for  the  wav  of  the  world,  like  the  rain 
and  snow  and  thunder,  and  stood  manfully  with  his  back 
to  it  till  it  was  over,  as  his  old  donkey  did  to  a  hail 
storm  ;  and  then  shook  his  ears  and  was  as  jolly  as  ever  ; 
and  thought  of  the  fine  times  coming,  when  he  would 
be  a  man,  and  a  master  sweep,  and  sit  in  the  public- 
house  with  a  quart  of  beer  and  a  long  pipe,  and  play 
cards  for  silver  monev,  and  wear  velveteens  and  ankle- 

\ 


A    FAIR*    TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


jacks,  and  keep  a  white  bull-dog  with  one  gray  ear,  and 
carry  her  puppies  in  his  pocket,  just  like  a  man.  And 
he  would  have  apprentices,  one,  two,  three,  if  he  could. 
How  he  would  bully  them,  and  knock  them  about,  just 
as  his  master  did  to  him  ;  and  make  them  carry  home 
the  soot  sacks  while  he  rode  before  them  on  his  donkey, 
with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth  and  a  flower  in  his  button-hole, 
like  a  king  at  the 
head  of  his  army. 
Yes,  there  were 
good  times  com- 
ing ;  and,  when 
his  master  let 
him  have  a  pull 
at  the  leavings 
of  his  beer,  Tom 
was  the  jolliest 
boy  in  the  whole 
town. 

One  day  a  smart 
little  groom  rode 
into  the  court 
where  Tom  lived. 
Tom  was  just 
hiding  behind  a 
wall,  to  heave 
half  a  brick  at  his 

horse's  legs,  as  is  the  custom  of  that  country  when  they 
welcome  strangers  ;  but  the  groom  saw  him,  and  hallooed 
to  him  to  know  where  Mr.  Grimes,  the  chimney-sweep, 
lived.  Now,  Mr.  Grimes  was  Tom's  own  master,  and 
Tom  was  a  good  man  of  business,  and  always  civil  to 
customers,  so  he  put  the  half-brick  down  quietly  behind 
the  wall,  and  proceeded  to  take  orders. 


4  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

Mr.  Grimes  was  to  come  up  next  morning  to  Sir 
John  Harth over's,  at  the  Place,  for  his  old  chimney- 
sweep was  gone  to  prison,  and  the  chimneys  wanted 
sweeping.  And  so  he  rode  away,  not  giving  Tom 
time  to  ask  what  the  sweep  had  gone  to  prison  for, 
which  was  a  matter  of  interest  to  Tom,  as  he  had  been 
in  prison  once  or  twice  himself.  Moreover,  the  groom 
looked  so  very  neat  and  clean,  with  his  drab  gaiters, 
drab  breeches,  drab  jacket,  snow-white  tie  with  a  smart 
pin  in  it,  and  clean,  round,  ruddy  face,  that  Tom  was 
offended  and  disgusted  at  his  appearance,  and  consid- 
ered him  a  stuck-up  fellow,  who  gave  himself  airs  because 
he  wore  smart  clothes,  and  other  people  paid  for  them  ; 
and  went  behind  the  wall  to  fetch  the  half-brick  after 
all,  but  did  not,  remembering  that  he  had  come  in  the 
way  of  business,  and  was,  as  it  were,  under  a  flag  of 
truce. 

His  master  was  so  delighted  at  his  new  customer  that 
he  knocked  Tom  down  out  of  hand,  and  drank  more 
beer  that  night  than  he  usually  did  in  two,  in  order  to 
be  sure  of  getting  up  in  time  next  morning  ;  for  the  more  a 
man's  head  aches  when  he  wakes  the  more  glad  he  is  to 
turn  out  and  have  a  breath  of  fresh  air.  And,  when  he 
did  vet  up  at  four  the  next  morninq\  he  knocked  Tom 
down  again,  in  order  to  teach  him  (as  young  gentle- 
men used  to  be  taught  at  public  schools)  that  he  must 
be  an  extra  good  boy  that  day,  as  they  were  going  to  a 
very  great  house,  and  might  make  a  very  good  thing  of 
it,  if  they  could  but  give  satisfaction. 

And  Tom  thought  so  likewise,  and,  indeed,  would 
have  done  and  behaved  his  best,  even  without  being 
knocked  down.  For,  of  all  places  upon  earth,  Harth- 
over  Place  (which  he  had  never  seen)  was  the  most 
wonderful,  and  of  all  men  on  earth,  Sir  John  (whom  he 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


had  seen,  having  been  sent  to  gaol  by  him  twice)  was 
the  most  awful. 

Harthover  Place  was  really  a  grand  Place,  even  for 
the  rich  North 
country  ;  with  a 
house  so  large  that 
in  the  frame- 
breaking  riots, 
which  Tom  could 
just  remember, 
the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, and  ten 
thousand  soldiers 
to  match,  were 
easily  housed 
therein  ;  at  least, 
so  Tom  believed  ; 
with  a  park  full 
of  deer,  which 
Tom  believed  to 
be  monsters  who 
were  in  the  habit 
of  eating  children ; 
with  miles  of 
game-  preserves, 
in  which  Mr. 
Grimes  and  the 
collier  lads 
poached  at  times, 
on  which  occa- 
sions Tom  saw  pheasants,  and  wondered  what  they 
tasted  like  ;  with  a  noble  salmon-river,  in  which  Mr. 
Grimes  and  his  friends  would  have  liked  to  poach  ;  but 
then  they  must  have  got  into  cold  water,  and  that  they 


6  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

did  not  like  at  all.  In  short,  Harthover  was  a  grand 
place,  and  Sir  John  a  grand  old  man,  whom  even  Mr. 
Grimes  respected  ;  for  not  only  could  he  send  Mr.  Grimes 
to  prison  when  he  deserved  it,  as  he  did  once  or  twice  a 
week  ;  not  only  did  he  own  all  the  land  about  for  miles  ; 
not  only  was  he  a  jolly,  honest,  sensible  squire,  as  ever 
kept  a  pack  of  hounds,  who  would  do  what  he  thought 
right  by  his  neighbors,  as  well  as  get  what  he  thought 
right  for  himself;  but,  what  was  more,  he  weighed  full 
fifteen  stone,  was  nobody  knew  how  many  inches  round 
the  chest,  and  could  have  thrashed  Mr.  Grimes  himself 
in  fair  fight,  which  very  few  folk  round  there  could  do, 
and  which,  my  dear  little  boy,  would  not  have  been 
right  for  him  to  do,  as  a  great  many  things  are  not  which 
one  both  can  do,  and  would  like  very  much  to  do.  So 
Mr.  Grimes  touched  his  hat  to  him  when  he  rode 
through  the  town,  and  called  him  a  "buirdly  awd 
chap,"  and  his  young  ladies  "  gradely  lasses,"  which 
are  two  high  compliments  in  the  North  country  ;  ana 
thought  that  that  made  up  for  his  poaching  Sir  John's 
heasants  ;  whereby  you  may  perceive  that  Mr.  Grimes 
ad  not  been  to  a  properly  inspected  Government  Na- 
tional School. 

Now,  I  dare  say,  you  never  got  up  at  three  o'clock  on 
i  midsummer  morning.  Some  people  get  up  then  be- 
cause they  want  to  catch  salmon  ;  and  some  because 
they  want  to  climb  Alps  ;  and  a  great  many  more  be- 
cause they  must,  like  Tom.  But,  I  assure  you,  that 
three  o'clock  on  a  midsummer  morning  is  the  pleas- 
antest  time  of  all  the  twenty-four  hours,  and  all  the 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  ;  and  why  every  one 
does  not  get  up  then,  I  never  could  tell,  save  that  they 
are  all  determined  to  spoil  their  nerves  and  their  com- 
plexions by  doing  all  night  what  './hey  might  just  as 


I 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


well  do  all  day.  But  Tom,  instead  of  going  out  to  din- 
ner at  half-past  eight  at  night,  and  to  a  ball  at  ten,  and 
finishing  off  somewhere  between  twelve  and  four,  went 
to  bed  at  seven,  when  his  master  went  to  the  public- 
house,  and  slept  like  a  dead  pig  ;  for  which  reason  he 
was  as  pert  as  a  game-cock  (who  always  gets  up  early 
to  wake  the  maids),  and  just  ready  to  get  up  when  the 
fine  gentlemen  and  ladies  were  just  ready  to  go  to  bed. 

So  he  and  his  master  set  out  ;  Grimes  rode  the  donkey 
in  front,  and  Tom 
and  the  brushes 
walked  behind  ;  out 
of  the  court,  and  up 
the  street,  past  the 
closed  window-shut- 
ters, and  the  wink- 
ing, weary  police- 
men, and  the  roofs 
all  shining  gray  in 
the  gray  dawn. 

They  passed 
through  the  pit- 
men's village,  all 
shut  up  and  silent 
now,  and  through  the  turnpike  ;  and  then  they  were  our 
in  the  real  country,  and  plodding  along  the  black  dusty 
road,  between  black  slag  walls,  with  no  sound  but  the 
groaning  and  thumping  of  the  pit-engine  in  the  next 
field.  But  soon  the  road  grew  white,  and  the  walls  like- 
wise ;  and  at  the  wall's  foot  grew  long  grass  and  o-av 
flowers,  all  drenched  with  dew  ;  and  instead  of  the 
groaning  of  the  pit-engine,  they  heard  the  skylark  saying 
his  matins  high  up  in  the  air,  and  the  pit-bird  warbling 
in  the  sedges,  as  he  had  warbled  all  night  long. 


8  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

All  else  was  silent.  For  old  Mrs.  Earth  was  still  fast 
asleep  ;  and,  like  many  pretty  people,  she  looked  still 
prettier  asleep  than  awake.  The  great  elm-trees  in  the 
gold-green  meadows  were  fast  asleep  above,  and  the 
cows  fast  asleep  beneath  them  ;  nay,  the  few  clouds 
which  were  about  were  fast  asleep  likewise,  and  so  tired 
that  they  had  lain  down  on  the  earth  to  rest,  in  long 
white  flakes  and  bars,  among  the  stems  of  the  elm-trees, 
and  along  the  tops  of  the  alders  by  the  stream,  waiting 
for  the  sun  to  bid  them  rise  and  go  about  their  day's 
business  in  the  clear  blue  overhead. 

On  they  went ;  and  Tom  looked,  and  looked,  for  he 
never  had  been  so  far  into  the  country  before  ;  and 
longed  to  get  over  a  gate,  and  pick  buttercups,  and  look 
for  birds'  nests  in  the  hedge  ;  but  Mr.  Grimes  was  a  man 
of  business,  and  would  not  have  heard  of  that. 

Soon  they  came  up  with  a  poor  Irish-woman,  trudging 
along  with  a  bundle  at  her  back.  She  had  a  gray  shawl 
over  her  head,  and  a  crimson  madder  petticoat  ;  so  you 
may  be  sure  she  came  from  Gal  way.  She  had  neither 
shoes  nor  stockings,  and  limped  along  as  if  she  were 
tired  and  footsore  ;  but  she  was  a  verv  tall  handsome 
woman,  with  bright  gray  eyes,  and  heavy  black  hair 
hanging  about  her  cheeks.  And  she  took  Mr.  Grimes' 
fancy  so  much,  that  when  he  came  alongside  he  called 
out  to  her  : 

uThis  is  a  hard  road  for  a  oradelv  foot  like  that. 
Will  ye  up,  lass,  and  ride  behind  me?" 

But,  perhaps,  she  did  not  admire  Mr.  Grimes'  look 
and  voice  ;  for  she  answered  quietly  : 

tk  No,  thank  you  :  I'd  sooner  walk  with  your  little  lad 
here. " 

"  You  may  please  yourself, "  growled  Grimes,  and  went 
on  smoking. 


A   FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


9 


So  she  walked  beside  Tom,  and  talked  to  him,  and 
asked  him  where  he  lived,  and  what  he  knew,  and  all 
about  himself,  till  Tom  thought  he  had  never  met  such 
a  pleasant-spoken  woman.  And  she  asked  him,  at  last, 
whether  he  said  his  prayers  !  and  seemed  sad  when  he 
told  her  that  he  knew  no  prayers  to  say. 

Then  he  asked  her 
where  she  lived,  and 
she  said  far  away  by 
the  sea.  And  Tom 
asked  her  about  the  sea  ; 
and  she  told  him  how  it 
rolled  and  roared  over 
the  rocks  in  winter 
nights,  and  lay  still  in 
the  bright  summer  days, 
for  the  children  to 
bathe  and  play  in  it  ; 
and  many  a  story  more,  ^J 
till  Tom  longed  to  go 
and  see  the  sea,  and 
bathe  in  it  likewise. 

At  last,  at  the  bottom 
of  a  hill,  they  came  to 
a  spring  ;  not  such  a 
spring  as  you  see  here, 
which  soaks  up  out  of 
a  white  gravel  in  the  bog,  among  red  fly-catchers,  and 
pink  bottle-heath,  and  sweet  white  orchis  ;  nor  such  a 
one  as  you  may  see,  too,  here,  which  bubbles  up  under 
the  warm  sandbank  in  the  hollow  lane,  by  the  great  tuft 
of  lady  ferns,  and  makes  the  sand  dance  reels  at  the 
bottom,  day  and  night,  all  the  year  round  ;  not  such  a 
spring  as  either  of  those  ;  but  a  real  North  country  lime- 

a-—  Water- Babies 


IO  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

stone  fountain,  like  one  of  those  in  Sicily  or  Greece, 
where  the  old  heathen  fancied  the  nymphs  sat  cooling 
themselves  the  hot  summer's  day,  while  the  shepherds 
peeped  at  them  from  behind  the  bushes.  Out  of  a  low 
cave  of  rock,  at  the  foot  of  a  limestone  crag,  the  great 
fountain  rose,  quelling,  and  bubbling,  and  gurgling,  so 
clear  that  you  could  not  tell  where  the  water  ended  and 
the  air  began  ;  and  ran  away  under  the  road,  a  stream 
large  enough  to  turn  a  mill  ;  among  blue  geranium,  and 
golden  globe-flower,  and  wild  raspberry,  and  the  bird- 
cherry  with  its  tassels  of  snow. 

And  there  Grimes  stopped  and  looked  ;  and  Tom 
looked,  too.  Tom  was  wondering  whether  anything 
lived  in  that  dark  cave,  and  came  out  at  night  to  fly  in 
the  meadows.  But  Grimes  was  not  wondering  at  all. 
Without  a  word,  he  got  off  his  donkey,  and  clambered 
over  the  low  road  wall,  and  knelt  down,  and  began 
dipping  his  ugly  head  into  the  spring — and  very  dirty 
he  made  it. 

Tom  was  picking  the  flowers  as  fast  as  he  could.  The 
Irish-woman  helped  him,  and  showed  him  how  to  tie 
them  up  ;  and  a  very  pretty  nosegay  they  had  made  be- 
tween them.  But  when  he  saw  Grimes  actually  wash, 
he  stopped,  quite  astonished  ;  and  when  Grimes  had 
finished,  and  began  shaking  his  ears  to  dry  them,  he 
said  : 

"  Why,  master,  I  never  saw  you  do  that  before. '' 

11  Nor  will  again,  most  likely.  'Twasn't  for  cleanli- 
ness I  did  it,  but  for  coolness.  I'd  be  ashamed  to  want 
washing  every  week  or  so,  like  any  smutty  collier  lad." 

"I  wish  I  might  go  and  dip  my  head  in,"  said  poof 
little  Tom.  ''It  must  be  as  good  as  putting  it  under 
the  town-pump  ;  and  there  is  no  beadle  here  to  drive  a 
chap  away." 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  It 


a 


Thou  come  along,"  said  Grimes  ;  "what  dost  want 
with  washing  thyself?  Thou  did  not  drink  half  a  gallon 
of  beer  last  night,  like  me." 

"I  don't  care  for  you,"  said  naughty  Tom,  and  rav*. 
down  to  the  stream,  and  began  washing  his  face. 

Grimes  was  very  sulky,  because  the  woman  preferred 
Tom's  company  to  his  ;  so  he  dashed  at  him  with  horrid 
words,  and  tore  him  up  from  his  knees,  and  began  beat- 
ing him.  But  Tom  was  accustomed  to  that,  and  got  his 
head  safe  between  Mr.  Grimes'  legs,  and  kicked  his 
shins  with  all  his  might. 

"Are  you  not  ashamed  of  yourself,  Thomas  Grimes?  " 
cried  the  Irish-woman  over  the  wall. 

Grimes  looked  up,  startled  at  her  knowing  his  name  ; 
but  all  he  answered  was,  "  No,  nor  ever  was  yet  ;  "  and 
went  on  beating  Tom. 

' '  True  for  you.  If  you  ever  had  been  ashamed  of 
yourself,  you  would  have  gone  over  into  Vendale  long 


ago. 


What  do  you  know  about  Vendale?"  shouted 
Grimes  ;  but  he  left  off  beating  Tom. 

"  I  know  about  Vendale,  and  about  you,  too.  I  know, 
for  instance,  what  happened  in  Aldermire  Copse,  by 
night,  two  years  ago  come  Martinmas." 

"  You  do?  "  shouted  Grimes  ;  and,  leaving  Tom,  he 
climbed  up  over  the  wall,  and  faced  the  woman.  Tom 
thought  he  was  going  to  strike  her  ;  but  she  looked  him 
too  full  and  fierce  in  the  face  for  that. 

"  Yes  ;  I  was  there,"  said  the  Irish -woman  quietly. 

"You  are  no  Irish-woman,  by  your  speech,"  said 
Grimes,  after  many  bad  words. 

"Never  mind  who  I  am.  I  saw  what  I  saw; 
and  if  you  strike  that  boy  again,  I  can  tell  what  I 
know." 


12 


THE   WATER-BABIES. 


Grimes  seemed  quite  cowed,  and  got  on  his  donkey 
without  another  word. 

u  Stop  !  "  said  the  Irish-woman.      "I  have  one  more 

word  for  you 
both  ;  for  you  will 
both  see  me  again 
before  all  is  over. 
Those  that  wish  to 
be  clean,  clean 
they  will  be  ;  and 
those  that  wish  to 
be  foul,  foul  they 
will  be.  Remem- 
ber." 

And  she  turned 
away,  and  through 
a  gate  into  the 
meadow.  Grimes 
stood  still  a  mo- 
ment, like  a  man 
who  had  been 
stunned.  Then  he 
|?  rushed  after  her, 
shouting,  "You 
come  back."  But 
when  he  got  into 
the  meadow,  the 
woman  was  not 
there. 

Had  she  hidden 
away  ?  There  was 
no  place  to  hide  in.  But  Grimes  looked  about,  and  Tom 
also,  for  he  was  as  puzzled  as  Grimes  himself  at  her  dis 
appearing  so  suddenly  ;  but  look  where  they  would  she 
wras  not  there. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


*3 


Grimes  came  back  again  as  silent  as  a  post,  for  he 
was  a  little  frightened  ;  and,  getting  on  his  donkey, 
filled  a  fresh  pipe,  and  smoked  away,  leaving  Tom  in 
peace. 

And  now  they 
had  gone  three 
miles  more,  and 
came  to  Sir 
John's  lodge- 
gates. 

Very  grand 
lodges  they 
were,  with  very 
grand  iron  gates 
and  stone  gate- 
posts, and  on  the 
top  of  each  a 
most  dreadful 
bogy,  all  teeth, 
horns,  and  tail, 
which  was  the 
crest  which  Sir 
John's  ancestors 
wore  in  the  Wars 
of  the  Roses  ; 
and  very  prudent 
men  they  were 
to  wear  it,  for  all 
their  enemies 
must  have  run 
for  their  lives  at  the  very  first  sight  of  them. 

Grimes  rang  at  the  gate,  and  out  came  a  keeper  ok 
the  spot,  and  opened. 

"  I  was  told  to  expect  thee,"  he  said.      "Now  thouHv 


14  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

qe  so  good  as  to  keep  to  the  main  avenue,  and  not  let 
me  find  a  hare  or  rabbit  on  thee  when  thou  comest  back. 
I  shall  look  sharp  for  one,  I  tell  thee." 

u  Not  if  it's  in  the  bottom  of  the  soot-bag,"  quoth 
Grimes,  and  at  that  he  laughed ;  and  the  keeper  laughed 
and  said  : 

u  If  that's  thy  sort,  I  may  as  well  walk  up  with  thee 
to  the  hall." 

"I  think  thou  best  had.  It's  thy  business  to  see 
after  thy  game,  man,  and  not  mine." 

So  the  keeper  went  with  them  ;  and,  to  Tom's  sur- 
prise, he  and  Grimes  chatted  together  all  the  way  quite 
pleasantly.  He  did  not  know  that  a  keeper  is  only  a 
poacher  turned  outside  in,  and  a  poacher  a  keeper  turned 
inside  out. 

They  walked  up  a  great  lime  avenue,  a  full  mile  long, 
and  between  their  stems  Tom  peeped  trembling  at  the 
horns  of  the  sleeping  deer,  which  stood  up  among  the 
ferns.  Tom  had  never  seen  such  enormous  trees,  and 
as  he  looked  up  he  fancied  that  the  blue  sky  rested  on 
their  heads.  But  he  was  puzzled  very  much  by  the 
strange  murmuring  noise,  which  followed  them  all  the 
way.  So  much  puzzled  that  at  last  he  took  courage  to 
ask  the  keeper  what  it  was. 

He  spoke  very  civilly,  and  called  him  Sir,  for  he  was 
horribly  afraid  of  him,  which  pleased  the  keeper,  and  he 
told  him  that  they  were  the  bees  about  the  lime  flowers. 

uWhat  are  bees?"  asked  Tom. 

"  What  make  honey." 

"What  is  honey?  "  asked  Tom. 

"Thou  hold  thy  noise,"  said  Grimes. 

"Let  the  boy  be,"  said  the  keeper.  "He's  a  civil 
young  chap  now,  and  that's  more  than  he'll  be  long  if 
he  bides  with  thee." 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


15 


Grimes  laughed,  for  he  took  that  for  a  compliment. 

UI  wish  I  were  a  keeper,"  said  Tom,  "to  live  ifc, 
such  a  beautiful  place,  and  wear  green  velveteens  and 
have  a  real  dog- whistle  at  my  button,  like  you." 

The  keeper  laughed  ;  he  was  a  kind-hearted  fellow. 

"L!et  well 
alone,  lad,  and 
ill,  too,  at  times. 
Thy  life's  safer 
than  mine  at  all 
events,  eh,  Mr. 
Grimes?  " 

And    Grimes 


laughed 
and    then 


again, 


the 
two  men  began 
talking  quite 
low.  Tom  could 
hear,  though, 
that  it  was 
about  some 
poaching  fight; 
and  at  last 
Grimes  said 
surlily,  "Hast 
thou  anything 
against  me?  " 

"Not  now." 

"  Then  don't  ask  me  any  questions  till  thou  hast,  tor 
I  am  a  man  of  honor." 

And  at  that  they  both  laughed  again,  and  thought  it 
a  very  good  joke. 

And    by  this  time  they  were  come  up  to  the   great 
iron    spates    in    front  of   the    house  :    and  Tom 


stared 


16  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

through  them  at  the  rhododendrons  and  azaleas,  which 
were  all  in  flower  ;  and  then  at  the  house  itself,  and 
wondered  how  many  chimneys  there  were  in  it,  and 
how  long  ago  it  was  built,  and  what  was  the  man's 
name  that  built  it,  and  whether  he  got  much  money  for 
his  job  ? 

These  last  wTere  very  difficult  questions  to  answer. 
For  Harthover  had  been  built  at  ninety  different  times, 
and  in  nineteen  different  styles,  and  looked  as  if  some- 
body had  built  a  whole  street  of  houses  of  every  imagin- 
able shape,  and  then  stirred  them  together  with  a  spoon. 

For  the  attics  were  Anglo-Saxon. 

The  third  floor  Norman. 

The  second  Cinque-cento. 

The  first  floor  Elizabethan. 

The  right  zving  pure  Doric. 

The  centre  early  English,  with  a  huge  portico  copied  from 
the  Parthenon. 

The  left  wing  pure  Boeotian,  which  the  country  folk 
admired  most  of  all,  because  it  was  just  like  the  new  barracks 
in  the  town,  only  tJiree  times  as  big. 

The  grand  staircase  zvas  copied  from  the  cataco7nbs  at 
Rome. 

The  back  staircase  from  the  Tajmahal  at  Agra.  This  zvas 
built  by  Sir  yohris  great-great-great-uncle \  who  won,  in  Lord 
dive's  Indian  Wars,  plenty  of  money,  plenty  of  wounds,  and 
no  more  taste  than  his  betters. 

The  cellars  were  copied  from  the  caves  of  Elephanta. 

The  offices  from  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton. 

And  the  rest  from  nothing  in  heaven,  or  earth,  01 
under  the  earth. 

So  that  Harthover  House  was  a  great  puzzle  to  anti- 


A   FAIRY  TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY,  1 7 

quarians,  and  a  thorough  Naboth's  vineyard  to  critics, 
and  architects,  and  all  persons  who  like  meddling  with 
other  men's  business,  and  spending  other  men's  money. 
So  they  were  all  setting  upon  poor  Sir  John,  year  after 
year,  and  trying  to  talk  him  into  spending  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds  or  so,  in  building,  to  please  them  and 
not  himself.  But  he  always  put  them  off,  like  a  canny 
North-countryman  as  he  was.  One  wanted  him  to  build 
a  Gothic  house,  but  he  said  he  was  no  Goth  ;  and  an- 
other to  build  an  Elizabethan,  but  he  said  he  lived  under 
good  Queen  Victoria,  and  not  good  Queen  Bess  ;  and  an- 
other was  bold  enough  to  tell  him  that  his  house  was 
ugly,  but  he  said  he  lived  inside  it,  and  not  outside  ; 
and  another,  that  there  was  no  unity  in  it,  but  he  said 
that  that  was  just  why  he  liked  the  old  place.  For  he 
liked  to  see  how  each  Sir  John,  and  Sir  Hugh,  and  Sir 
Ralph,  and  Sir  Randal,  had  left  his  mark  upon  the 
place,  each  after  his  own  taste  ;  and  he  had  no  more 
notion  of  disturbing  his  ancestors*  work  than  of  disturb- 
ing their  graves.  For  now  the  house  looked  like  a  real 
live  house,  that  had  a  history,  and  had  grown  and 
grown  as  the  world  grew  ;  and  that  it  was  only  an  up- 
start fellow  who  did  not  know  who  his  own  grandfather 
was,  who  would  change  it  for  some  spick  and  span  new 
Gothic  or  Elizabethan  thing,  which  looked  as  if  it  had 
been  all  spawned  in  a  night,  as  mushrooms  are.  From 
which  you  may  collect  (if  you  have  wit  enough)  that 
Sir  John  was  a  very  sound-headed,  sound-hearted  squire, 
and  just  the  man  to  keep  the  country-side  in  order,  and 
show  good  sport  with  his  hounds. 

But  Tom  and  his  master  did  not  go  in  through  the 
great  iron  gates,  as  if  they  had  been  Dukes  or  Bishops, 
but  round  the  back-way,  and  a  very  long  way  round  it 
was ;  and  into  a  little  back-door,  where  the  ash-boy  let 


18 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


them  in,  yawning  horribly  ;  and  then  in  a  passage  the 
housekeeper  met  them,  in  such  a  flowered  chintz  dress- 
ing-gown,  that  Tom  mistook  her  for  My  Lady  herself, 
and  she  gave  Grimes  solemn  orders  about  "You  will 

take  care  of  this,  and 
take  care  of  that,"  as 
if  he  was  going  up 
the  chimneys,  and 
not  Tom.  And 
Grimes  listened,  and 
said  every  now  and 
then,  under  h  i  s 
voice,  "You'll  mind 
that,  you  little  beg- 
gar?" and  Tom  did 
mind,  all  at  least  that 
he  could.  And  then 
the  housekeeper 
turned  them  into  a 
grand  room,  all  cov- 
ered up  in  sheets  of 
brown  paper,  and 
bade  them  begin,  in  a 
lofty  and  tremendous 
voice  ;  and  so,  after 
a  whimper  or  two, 
and  a  kick  from  his 
master,  into  the 
grate  Tom  went,  and 
up  the  chimney, 
while  a  housemaid  stayed  in  the  room  to  watch  the  fur- 
niture ;  to  whom  Mr.  Grimes  paid  many  playful  and 
chivalrous  compliments,  but  met  with  very  slight 
encouragement  in  return. 


A  FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


19 


How  many  chimneys  Tom  swept  I  cannot  say  ;  but 
he  swept  so  many  that  he  got  quite  tired,  and  puzzled, 
too,  for  they  were  not  like  the  town  flues  to  which  he 
was  accustomed,  but  such  as  you  would  find — if  you 
would  only  get  up  them  and  look,  which  perhaps  you 
would  not  like  to 
do — in  old  country- 
houses,  large  and 
crooked  chimneys, 
which  had  been 
altered  3gain  and 
again,  till  they  ran 
one  into  another, 
anastomosing  (as 
Professor  Owen 
would  say)  consid- 
erably. So  Tom 
fairly  lost  his  way 
in  them  ;  not  that 
he  cared  much  for 
that,  though  he 
was  in  pitchy  dark- 
ness, for  he  was  as 
much  at  home  in  a 
chimney  as  a  mole 
is  underground  ; 
but  at  last,  coming 
down  as  he  thought 

the  right  chimney,  he  came  down  the  w*ong  one,  and 
found  himself  standing  on  the  hearth-rug  in  a  room  the 
like  of  which  he  had  never  seen  before. 

Tom  had  never  seen  the  like.  He  had  never  been  in 
gentlefolks'  rooms  but  when  the  carpets  were  all  up, 
and  the  curtains  down,  and  the  furniture  huddled  to 


20  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

gether  under  a  cloth,  and  the  pictures  covered  with 
aprons  and  dusters  ;  and  he  had  often  enough  wondered 
what  the  rooms  were  like  when  they  were  all  ready  for 
the  quality  to  sit  in.  And  now  he  saw,  and  he  thought 
the  sight  very  pretty. 

The  room  was  all  dressed  in  white — white  window- 
curtains,  white  bed-curtains,  white  furniture,  and  white 
walls,  with  just  a  few  lines  of  pink  here  and  there.  The 
carpet  was  all  over  gay  little  flowers  ;  and  the  walls  were 
hung  with  pictures  in  gilt  frames,  which  amused  Tom 
very  much.  There  were  pictures  of  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, and  pictures  of  horses  and  dogs.  The  horses  he 
liked  ;  but  the  dogs  he  did  not  care  for  much,  for 
there  were  no  bull-dogs  among  them,  not  even  a 
terrier.  But  the  two  pictures  which  took  his  fancy 
most  were,  one  a  man  in  long  garments,  with  little 
children  and  their  mothers  round  him,  who  was  laying 
his  hand  upon  the  children's  heads.  That  was  a  very 
pretty  picture,  Tom  thought,  to  hang  in  a  lady's  room. 
For  he  could  see  that  it  was  a  lady's  room  by  the  dresses 
which  lay  about. 

The  other  picture  was  that  of  a  man  nailed  to  a  cross, 
which  surprised  Tom  much.  He  fancied  that  he  had 
seen  something  like  it  in  a  shop-window.  But  why  was 
it  there?  "Poor  man  !"  thought  Tom,  "and  he  looks 
so  kind  and  quiet.  But  why  should  the  lady  have  such 
a  sad  picture  as  that  in  her  room?  Perhaps  it  wa-s 
some  kinsman  of  hers,  who  had  been  murdered  by  the 
savages  in  foreign  parts,  and  she  kept  it  there  for  a  re- 
membrance." And  Tom  felt  sad,  and  awed,  and  turned 
to  look  at  something  else. 

The  next  thing  he  saw,  and  that  too  puzzled  him,  was 
a  washing-stand,  with  ewers  and  basins,  and  soap  and 
brushes,    and   towels,  and   a   large   bath  full   of  clean 


A  FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  21 

water — what  a  heap  of  things  all  for  washing  !  "  She 
must  be  a  very  dirty  lady,"  thought  Tom,  u  by  my  mas- 
ter's rule,  to  want  as  much  scrubbing  as  all  that.  But 
she  must  be  very  cunning  to  put  the  dirt  out  of  the  way 
so  well  afterwards,  for  I  don't  see  a  speck  about  the  room, 
not  even  on  the  very  towels," 


And  then,  looking  towards  the  bed,  he  saw  that  dirty 
lady,  and  held  his  breath  with  astonishment. 

Under  the  snow-white  coverlet,  upon  the  snow-white 
pillow,  lay  the  most  beautiful  little  girl  that  Tom  had 
ever  seen.  Her  cheeks  were  almost  as  white  as  the 
pillow,  and  her  hair  was  like  threads  of  gold  spread  all 
about  over  the  bed.  She  might  have  been  as  old  as  Tom, 
or  maybe  a  year  or  two  older  ;  but  Tom  did  not  think  of 


22   -  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

that.  He  thought  only  of  her  delicate  skin  and  golden 
hair,  and  wondered  whether  she  was  a  real  live  person, 
or  one  of  the  wax  dolls  he  had  seen  in  the  shops.  But 
when  he  saw  her  breathe,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  she 
was  alive,  and  stood  staring  at  her,  as  if  she  had  been 
an  angel  out  of  heaven. 

"No.  She  cannot  be  dirty.  She  never  could  have 
been  dirty,"  thought  Tom  to  himself.  And  then  he 
thought,  "And  are  all  people  like  that  when  they  are 
washed?"  And  he  looked  at  his  own  wrist,  and  tried 
to  rub  the  soot  off,  and  wondered  whether  it  ever  would 
come  off.  ' '  Certainly  I  should  look  much  prettier  then, 
if  I  grew  at  all  like  her." 

And  looking  round,  he  suddenly  saw,  standing  close 
to  him,  a  little  ugly,  black,  ragged  figure,  with  bleared 
eyes  and  grinning  white  teeth.  He  turned  on  it  angrily. 
What  did  such  a  little  black  ape  want  in  that  sweet 
voun^  lady's  room?  And  behold,  it  was  himself  re- 
fleeted  in  a  great  mirror  the  like  of  which  Tom  had 
never  seen  before. 

And  Tom,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  found  out  that 
he  was  dirty  ;  and  burst  into  tears  with  shame  and  anger ; 
and  turned  to  sneak  up  the  chimney  again  and  hide  ; 
and  upset  the  fender  and  threw  the  fire-irons  down,  with 
a  noise  as  of  ten  thousand  tin  kettles  tied  to  ten  thousand 
mad  do^s'  tails. 

Up  jumped  the  little  white  lady  in  her  bed,  and,  see- 
ing Tom,  screamed  as  shrill  as  any  peacock.  In  rushed 
a  stout  old  nurse  from  the  next  room,  and  seeing  Tom 
likewise,  made  up  her  mind  that  he  had  come  to  rob, 
plunder,  destroy,  and  burn  ;  and  dashed  at  him,  as  he 
lay  over  the  fender,  so  fast  that  she  caught  him  by  the 
jacket. 

But   she   did   not   hold   him.      Tom   had    been  in  3 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


23 


policeman's  hands  many  a  time,  and  out  of  them,  too, 
what  is  more  ;  and  he  would  have  been  ashamed  to  face 
his  friends  for  ever  if  he  had  been  stupid  enough  to  be 
caught  by  an  old  woman  ;  so  he  doubled  under  the  good 
lady's  arm,  across  the  room,  and  out  of  the  window  in  a 
moment. 

He  did  not  need  to  drop  out,  though  he  would  have 
done  so  bravely  enough.  Nor  even  to  let  himself  down 
a  spout,  which  would  have 
been  an  old  game  to  him  ; 
for  once  he  got  up  by  a 
spout  to  the  church  roof, 
he  said  to  take  jackdaws' 
eggs,  but  the  policeman 
said  to  steal  lead  ;  and, 
when  he  was  seen  on  high, 
sat  there  till  the  sun  got 
too  hot,  and  came  down 
by  another  spout,  leaving 
the  policemen  to  go  back 
to  the  station-house  and  eat 
their  dinners. 

But  all  under  the  win- 
dow spread  a  tree,  with 
great     leaves    and    sweet 

white  flowers  almost  as  big  as  his  head.  It  was  magnolia, 
I  suppose  ;  but  Tom  knew  nothing  about  that,  and  cared 
less  ;  for  down  the  tree  he  went,  like  a  cat,  and  across 
the  garden  lawn,  and  over  the  iron  railings,  and  up 
the  park  towards  the  wood,  leaving  the  old  nurse  to 
scream  murder  and  fire  at  the  window. 

The  under  gardener,  mowing,  saw  Tom,  and  threw 
down  his  scythe  ;  caught  his  leg  in  it,  and  cut  his  shin 
open,  whereby  he  kept  his  bed  for  a  week ;  but  in  his 


24 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


hurry  he  never  knew  it,  and  gave  chase  to  poor  Tom. 
The  dairymaid  heard  the  noise,  got  the  churn  between 
her  knees,  and  tumbled  over  it,  spilling  all  the  cream  ; 
and  yet  she  jumped  up,  and  gave,  chase  to  Tom.  A 
groom  cleaning  Sir  John's  hack  at  the  stables  let  him 
go  loose,  whereby  he  kicked  himself  lame  in  five  min- 
utes ;  but  he  ran  out  and  gave  chase  to  Tom.  Grimes 
upset  the  soot-sack  in  the  new-gravelled  yard,  and  spoilt 
it  all  utterly  ;  but  he  ran  out  and  gave  chase  to  Tom. 

The  old  steward  opened 
the  park -gate  in  such  a 
hurry  that  he  hung  up 
his  pony's  chin  upon  the 
spikes,  and,  for  aught  I 
know,  it  hangs  there 
still  ;  but  he  jumped  off, 
and  gave  chase  to  Tom. 
The  ploughman  left  his 
horses  at  the  headland, 
and  one  jumped  over  the 
fence  and  pulled  the 
other  into  the  ditch, 
plough  and  all  ;  but  he 


ran  on, 
to   Tom. 
a  trap,  let 


and 


gave 


The 


chase 
keeper, 


who  was  taking  a  stoat  out  of  a  trap,  let  the  stoat  go, 
and  caught  his  own  finger  ;  but  he  jumped  up,  and  ran 
after  Tom  ;  and,  considering  what  he  said  and  how  he 
looked,  I  should  have  been  sorry  for  Tom  if  he  had 
caught  him.  Sir  John  looked  out  of  his  study  window 
(for  he  was  an  early  old  gentleman)  and  up  at  the  nurse, 
and  a  marten  dropped  mud  in  his  eye,  so  that  he  had  at 
last  to  send  for  the  doctor  ;  and  yet  he  ran  out,  and  gave 
phase  to  Tom.     The  Irish-woman,  too,  was  walking  up 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


25 


to  the  house  to  beg — she  must  have  got  round  by  some 
byway — but  she  threw  away  her  bundle,  and  gave  chase 
to  Tom  likewise.  Only  my  L,ady  did  not  give  chase  ; 
for  when  she  had  put  her  head  out  of  the  window,  her 
night-wig  fell  into  the  garden,  and  she  had  to  ring  up 
her  lady's-maid,  and  send  her  down  for  it  privately, 
which  quite  put  her  out  of  the  running,  so  that  she 
came  in  nowhere,  and  is 
consequently  not  placed. 

In  a  word,  never  was 
there  heard  at  Hall 
Place — not  even  when 
the  fox  was  killed  in  the 
conservatory,  among 
acres  of  broken  glass,  and 
tons  of  smashed  flower- 
pots— such  a  noise,  row, 
hubbub,  babel,  shindy, 
hullaballoo,  stramash, 
charivari,  and  total  con- 
tempt of  dignity,  repose, 
and  order,  as  that  day, 
when  Grimes,  gardener, 
the  groom,  the  dairy- 
maid, Sir  John,  the  stew- 
ard, the  ploughman,  the 
keeper,  and  the  Irish- 
woman, all  ran  up  the  park,  shouting  "  Stop  thief !  "  in 
the  belief  that  Tom  had  at  least  a  thousand  pounds' 
worth  of  jewels  in  his  empty  pockets  ;  and  the  very 
magpies  and  jays  followed  Tom  up,  screaking  and 
screaming,  as  if  he  were  a  hunted  fox,  beginning  to 
droop  his  brush. 

And  all  the  while  poor  Tom  paddled  up  the  park  with 

£ —  Water-  Ba.hi.es 


26 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


his  little  bare  feet,  like  a  small  black  gorilla  fleeing  to 
the  forest.  Alas  for  him  !  there  was  no  big  father  gorilla 
therein  to  take  his  part — to  scratch  out  the  gardener's 
inside  with  one  paw,  toss  the  dairymaid  into  a  tree  with 
another,  and  wrench  off  Sir  John's  head  with  a  third, 
while  he  cracked  the  keeper's  skull  with  his  teeth  as 
easily  as  if  it  had  been  a  cocoanut  or  a  paving-stone. 
However,  Tom  did  not  remember  ever  having  had  a 

father  ;  so  he  did  not 
look  for  one,  and  ex- 
pected to  have  to  take 
care  of  himself ;  while 
as  for  running,  he  could 
keep  up  for  a  couple  of 
miles  with  any  stage- 
coach, if  there  was  the 
chance  of  a  copper  or  a 
cigar-end,  and  turn 
coach-wheels  on  his 
hands  and  feet  ten  times 
following,  which  is  more 
than  you  can  do.  Where- 
fore his  pursuers  found 
it  very  difficult  to  catch 
him  ;  and  we  will  hope  that  they  did  not  catch  him  at 
all. 

Tom,  of  course,  made  for  the  woods.  He  had  never 
been  in  a  wood  in  his  life  ;  but  he  was  sharp  enough  to 
know  that  he  might  hide  in  a  bush  or  swarm  up  a  tree, 
and,  altogether,  had  more  chance  there  than  in  the 
open.  If  he  had  not  known  that,  he  would  have  been 
foolisher  than  a  mouse  or  a  minnow. 

But  when  he  got  into  the  wood,  he  found  it  a  very 
different  sort  of  a  place  from  what  he  had  fancied.     He 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


27 


pushed  into  a  thick  cover  of  rhododendrons,  and  found 
himself  at  once  caught  in  a  trap.  The  boughs  laid  hold 
of  his  legs  and  arms,  poked  him  in  his  face  and  his 
stomach,  made  him  shut  his  eyes  tight  (though  that  was 
no  great  loss,  for  he  could  not  see  at  best  a  yard  before 
his  nose) ;  and  when  he  got  through  the  rhododendrons, 
the  hassock-grass  and  sedges  tumbled  him  over,  and  cut 
his  poor  little  fingers  afterwards  most  spitefully  ;  the 
birches  birched  him  as 
soundly  as  if  he  had  been 
a  nobleman  at  Eton,  and 
over  the  face,  too  (which 
is  not  fair  swishing,  as 
all  brave  boys  will 
agree)  ;  and  the  lawyers 
tripped  him  up,  and  tore 
his  shins  as  if  they  had 
sharks'  teeth — w  h  i  c  h 
lawyers  are  likely  enough 
to  have. 

u  I  must  get  out  of 
this,"  thought  Tom,  "or 
I  shall  stay  here  till  some- 
body comes  to  help  me, 
which  is  just  what  I  don't  want." 

But  how  to  £et  out  was  a  difficult  matter.  And  indeed 
I  don't  think  he  would  ever  have  got  out  at  all,  but 
have  stayed  there  till  the  cock-robins  covered  him  with 
leaves,  if  he  had  not  suddenly  run  his  head  against  a 
wall. 

Now  running  your  head  against  a  wall  is  not  pleasant, 
especially  if  it  is  a  loose  wall,  with  the  stones  all  set  on 
edge,  and  a  sharp-cornered  one  hits  you  between  the 
eyes  and  makes  you  see   all  manner  of  beautiful  stars. 


28 


THE   WATER-BABIES. 


The  stars  are  very  beautiful,  certainly  ;  but  unfortunately 
thev  go  in  the  twenty-thousandth  part  of  a  split  second, 
and  the  pain  which  comes  after  them  does  not.  And  so 
Tom  hurt  his  head  ;  but  he  was  a  brave  boy,  and  did 
not  mind  that  a  penny.  He  guessed  that  over  the  wall 
the  cover  would  end  ;  and  up  it  he  went,  and  over  like 
a  squirrel. 

And  there  he  was,    out  on  the  great  grouse-moors, 

which  the  country  folk 

called  Harthover  Fell 

(-  +  — heather  and  bog  and 

\  ,1  /    rock,  stretching  away 


and  up,  up  to  the  very 
sky. 

Now,  Tom  was  a 
cunninsf  little  fellow 
— as  cunning  as  an  old 
ex-moor  stag.  Why 
rot  ?  Though  he  was 
but  ten  years  old,  he 
had  lived  longer  than 
most  stags,  and  had 
more  wits  to  start  with 
into  the  bargain. 
He  knew  as  well  as  a  stag  that  if  he  backed  he 
might  throw  the  hounds  out.  So  the  first  thing  he  did 
when  he  was  over  the  wall  was  to  make  the  neatest  double 
sharp  to  his  right,  and  run  along  under  the  wall  for 
nearly  half  a  mile. 

Whereby  Sir  John,  and  the  keeper,  and  the  steward, 
and  the  gardener,  and  the  ploughman,  and  the  dairy- 
maid, and  all  the  hue-and-cry  together,  went  on  ahead 
half  a  mile  in  the  very  opposite  direction,  and  inside  the 
wall,  leaving  him  a  mile  off  on  the  outside  ;  while  Tom 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


29 


heard  their  shouts  die  away  in  the  woods  and  chuckled 
to  himself  merrily. 

At  last  he  came  to  a  dip  in  the  land,  and  went  to  the 
bottom  of  it,  and  then  he 


&3&tt 


turned  bravely  away  from 
the  wall  and  up  the  moor; 
for  he  knew  that  he  had 
put  a  hill  between  him 
and  his  enemies,  and 
could  go  on  without  their 
seeing  him. 

But  the  Irish-woman, 
alone  of  them  all,  had 
seen  which  way  Tom 
went.  She  had  kept 
ahead  of  every  one  the 
whole  time  ;  and  yet 
she  neither  walked  nor 
ran.  She  went  along 
quite  smoothly  and 
gracefully,  while  her  feet 
twinkled  past  each  other 
so  fast  that  you  could 
not  see  which  was  fore- 
most ;  till  every  one 
asked  the  other  who  the 
strange  woman  was  ;  and 
all  agreed,  for  want  of 
anvthinor  better  to  sav, 
that  she  must  be  in 
league  with  Tom. 

But  when  she  came  to  the  plantation,  they  lost 
sight  of  her  ;  and  they  could  do  no  less.  For  she  went 
quietly  over  the  wall  after  Tom,  and  followed  him  where- 


30  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

ever  he  went.     Sir  John  and  the  rest  saw  no  more  of 
her  ;  and  out  of  sight  was  out  of  mind. 

And  now  Tom  was  right  away  into  the  heather, 
over  just  such  a  moor  as  those  in  which  you  have  been 
bred,  except  that  there  were  rocks  and  stones  lying 
about  everywhere,  and  that,  instead  of  the  moor  grow- 
ing flat  as  he  went  upwards,  it  grew  more  and  more 
broken  and  hilly,  but  not  so  rough  but  that  little  Tom 
could  jog  along  well  enough,  and  find  time,  too,  to  stare 
about  at  the  strange  place,  which  was  like  a  new  world 
to  him. 

He  saw  great  spiders  there,  with  crowns  and  crosses 
marked  on  their  backs,  who  sat  in  the  middle  of  their 
webs,  and,  when  they  saw  Tom  coming,  shook  them  so 
fast  that  they  became  invisible.  Then  he  saw  lizards, 
brown  and  gray  and  green,  and  thought  they  were 
snakes,  and  would  sting  him  ;  but  they  were  as  much 
frightened  as  he,  and  shot  away  into  the  heath.  And 
then,  under  a  rock,  he  saw  a  pretty  sight — a  great 
brown,  sharp-nosed  creature,  with  a  white  tag  to  her 
brush,  and  round  her  four  or  five  smutty  little  cubs, 
the  funniest  fellows  Tom  ever  saw.  She  la}-  on  her 
back,  rolling  about,  and  stretching  out  her  legs  and 
head  and  tail  in  the  bright  sunshine  ;  and  the  cubs 
jumped  over  her,  and  ran  round  her,  and  nibbled  her 
paws,  and  lugged  her  about  by  the  tail  ;  and  she 
seemed  to  enjoy  it  mightily.  But  one  selfish  little  fel- 
low stole  away  from  the  rest  to  a  dead  crow  close  by, 
and  dragged  it  off  to  hide  it,  though  it  was  nearly  as 
big  as  he  was.  Whereat  all  his  little  brothers  set  off 
after  him  in  full  cry,  and  saw  Tom  ;  and  then  all  ran 
back,  and  up  jumped  Mrs.  Vixen,  and  caught  one  up 
in  her  mouth,  and  the  rest  toddled  after  her,  and  into  a 
dark  crack  in  the  rocks  ;  and  there  was  an  end  of  the  show* 


A  FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A  LAND-BABY. 


3* 


And  next  he  had  a  fright ;  for,  as  he  scrambled  up 
a  sandy  brow — whirr-poof-poof-cock-cock-kick — some- 
thing went  off  in  his  face,  with  a  most  horrid  noise.  He 
thought  the  ground  had  blown  up,  and  the  end  of  the 
world  come. 

And  when  he  opened  his  eyes  (for  he  shut  them  very 
tight),  it  was  only  an  old   cock-grouse,  who  had  been 


t$A% 


washing  himself  in  sand,  like  an  Arab,  for  want  of 
water ;  and  who,  when  Tom  had  all  but  trodden  on 
him,  jumped  up  with  a  noise  like  the  express  train, 
leaving  his  wife  and  children  to  shift  for  themselves, 
like  an  old  coward,  and  went  off,  screaming  "  Cur-ru-u- 
11  ck,  cur-ru-u-uck — murder,  thieves,  fire — cur-u-uck- 
Cock-kick — the  end  of  the  world  is  come — kick-kick- 


32  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

cock-kick."  He  was  always  fancying  that  the  end  of 
the  world  was  come,  when  anything  happened  which 
was  farther  off  than  the  end  of  his  own  nose.  But  the 
end  of  the  world  was  not  come,  any  more  than  the 
twelfth  of  August  was ;  though  the  old  grouse-cock  was 
quite  certain  of  it. 

So  the  old  grouse  came  back  to  his  wife  and  family 
an  hour  afterwards,  and  said  solemnly,  "Cock-cock- 
kick  ;  my  dears,  the  end  of  the  world  is  not  quite  come  ; 
but  I  assure  you  it  is  coming  the  day  after  to-morrow- 
cock. n  But  his  wife  heard  that  so  often  that  she  knew 
all  about  it,  and  a  little  more.  And,  besides,  she  was 
the  mother  of  a  family,  and  had  seven  little  poults  to 
wash  and  feed  every  day  ;  and  that  made  her  very  prac- 
tical, and  a  little  sharp-tempered  ;  so  all  she  answered 
was:  "Kick-kick-kick — go  and  catch  spiders,  go  and 
catch  spiders — kick." 

So  Tom  went  on  and  on,  he  hardly  knew  why  ;  but 
he  liked  the  great  wide,  strange  place,  and  the  cool, 
fresh  bracing  air.  But  he  went  more  and  more  slowly 
as  he  got  higher  up  the  hill  ;  for  now  the  ground  grew 
very  bad  indeed.  Instead  of  soft  turf  and  springy 
heather,  he  met  great  patches  of  flat  limestone  rock, 
just  like  ill-made  pavements,  with  deep  cracks  between 
the  stones  and  ledges,  filled  with  ferns;  so  he  had  to 
hop  from  stone  to  stone,  and  now  and  then  he  slipped 
in  between,  and  hurt  his  little  bare  toes,  though  they 
were  tolerably  tough  ones  ;  but  still  he  would  go  on 
and  up,  he  could  not  tell  why. 

What  would  Tom  have  said  if  he  had  seen,  walking 
over  the  moor  behind  him,  the  very  same  Irish-woman 
who  had  taken  his  part  upon  the  road?  But  whether  it 
was  that  he  looked  too  little  behind  him,  or  whether  it 
was  that  she  kept  out  of  sight  behind  the  rocks  and 
knolls,  he  never  saw  her,  though  she  saw  him. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY, 


33 


And  now  he  began  to  get  a  little  hungry,  and  very 
thirsty  ;  for  he  had  run  a  long  way,  and  the  sun  had 
risen  high  in  heaven,  and  the  rock  was  as  hot  as  an 
oven,  and  the  air  danced  reels  over  it,  as  it  does  over  a 
limekiln,  till  everything  round  seemed  quivering  and 
melting  in  the  glare. 


'^S&s^zG&iZW^ 


But  he  could  see  nothing  to  eat  anywhere,  w4  sti$ 
less  to  drink. 

The  heath  was  full  of  bilberries  and  whii«**>erries  ; 
but  they  were  only  in  flower  yet,  for  it  was  Jui*e.  And 
as  for  water,  who  can  find  that  on  the  top  oi  a  lime- 
stone rock  ?  Now  and  then  he  passed  by  a  de^p  dark 
swallow-hole,  going  down  into  the  earth,  as  if  it  was  the 
chimney  of  some  dwarf's  house  underground  ;  and  more 
than  once,  as  he  passed,  he  could  hear  water  falling, 


34  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

trickling,  tinkling,  many,  many  feet  below.  How  he 
longed  to  get  down  to  it,  and  cool  his  poor  baked  lips ! 
But,  brave  little  chimney-sweep  as  he  was,  he  dared  not 
climb  down  such  chimneys  as  those. 

So  he  went  on  and  on,  till  his  head  spun  round  with 
the  heat,  and  he  thought  he  heard  church-bells  ringing. 
a  long  way  off. 

"Ah  !  "  he  thought,  "where  there  is  a  church  there 
will  be  houses  and  people  ;  and,  perhaps,  some  one  will 
give  me  a  bit  and  a  sup."  So  he  set  off  again,  to  look 
for  the  church  ;  for  he  was  sure  that  he  heard  the  bells 
quite  plain. 

And  in  a  minute  more,  when  he  looked  round,  he 
stopped  again,  and  said,  c<  Why,  what  a  big  place  the 
world  is  ! ' ' 

And  so  it  was  ;  for,  from  the  top  of  the  mountain,  he 
could  see — what  could  he  not  see  ? 

Behind  him,  far  below,  was  Harthover,  and  the  dark 
woods,  and  the  shining  salmon  river  ;  and  on  his  left, 
far  below,  was  the  town,  and  the  smoking  chimneys  of 
the  collieries  ;  and  far,  far  away,  the  river  widened  to 
the  shining  sea  ;  and  little  white  specks,  which  were 
ships,  lay  on  its  bosom.  Before  him  lay,  spread  out 
like  a  map,  great  plains,  and  farms,  and  villages,  amid 
dark  knots  of  trees.  They  all  seemed  at  his  very 
feet  ;  but  he  had  sense  to  see  that  they  were  long  miles 
away. 

And  to  his  right  rose  moor  after  moor,  hill  after  hill, 
till  they  faded  away,  blue  into  blue  sky.  But  between 
him  and  those  moors,  and  really  at  his  very  feet,  lay 
something,  to  which,  as  soon  as  Tom  saw  it,  he  deter- 
mined  to  go,  for  that  was  the  place  for  him. 

A  deep,  deep  green  and  rocky  valley,  very  narrow, 
and  filled  with  wood  ;  but  through  the  wood,  hundreds 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY,  35 

xA  feet  below  him,  he  could  see  a  clear  stream  glance. 
Oh,  if  he  could  but  get  down  to  that  stream  !  Then,  by 
the  stream,  he  saw  the  roof  of  a  little  cottage,  and  a 
little  garden  set  out  in  squares  and  beds.  And  there 
was  a  tiny  little  red  thing  moving  in  the  garden,  no 
bigger  than  a  fly.  As  Tom  looked  down,  he  saw  that 
it  was  a  woman  in  a  red  petticoat.  Ah  !  perhaps  she 
would  give  him  something  to  eat.  And  there  were  the 
church-bells  ringing  again.  Surely  there  must  be  a  vil- 
lage down  there.  Well,  nobody  would  know  him,  or 
what  had  happened  at  the  Place.  The  news  could  not 
have  got  there  yet,  even  if  Sir  John  had  set  all  the  police- 
men in  the  county  after  him  ;  and  he  could  get  down 
there  in  five  minutes. 

Tom  was  quite  right  about  the  hue-and-cry  not  having 
got  thither  ;  for  he  had  come,  without  knowing  it,  the 
best  part  of  ten  miles  from  Harthover ;  but  he  was  wrong 
about  getting  down  in  five  minutes,  for  the  cottage  was 
more  than  a  mile  off,  and  a  good  thousand  feet  below. 

However,  down  he  went,  like  a  brave  little  man  as 
he  was,  though  he  was  very  footsore,  and  tired,  and 
hungry,  and  thirsty  ;  while  the  church-bells  rang  so 
loud,  he  began  to  think  that  they  must  be  inside  his 
own  head,  and  the  river  chimed  and  tinkled  far  below  ; 
and  this  was  the  song  which  it  sang  : 


36 


THE   WATER-BABIES. 


\y    CLEAR  and  cool,  clear 
^        and  cool, 
By  langldng  shalloiv  and  dreaming  pool ; 
Cool  and  clear,  cool  and  clear, 
By  shining  shingle  and  foaming  wear; 


A  FAIRY  TALK  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  37 

Under  the  crag  where  the  ouzel  sings, 

And  the  ivied  wall  where  the  church-bell  rings, 

Unde filed,  for  the  undefiled ; 

Play  by  me,  bathe  in  vie,  mother  and  child. 

Dank  and  fold,  dank  and  foul, 

By  the  smoky  town  in  its  murky  cowl; 

Foul  and  dank,  foul  and  dank, 

By  wharf  and  sewer  and  slimy  bank  ; 

Darker  and  darker  the  farther  I  go, 

Baser  and  baser  the  richer  I  grow  ; 

Who  dare  sport  with  the  sin-defiled? 

Shrink  from  me,  turn  from  me,  mother  and  child. 

Strong  and  free,  strong  and  free, 

The  floodgates  are  open,  away  to  the  sea, 

Free  and  strong,  free  and  strong, 

Cleansing  my  streams  as  I  hurry  along, 

To  the  golden  sands  and  the  leaping  bar, 

And  the  taintless  tide  that  awaits  me  afar. 

As  I  lose  myself  in  the  infinite  main, 

Like  a  soul  that  has  sinned  and  is  pardoned  again, 

Undefiled,  for  the  undefiled  ; 

Play  by  me,  bathe  in  me,  mother  a?id  child. 

So  Tom  went  down  ;  and  all  the  while  he  never  saw 
the  Irish-woman  going  down  behind  him. 


*8 


THE  WAYER-BABIES. 


'And  is  there  care  in  heaven  ?   and  is  there  love 
In  heavenly  spirits  to  these  creatures  base 
That  may  compassion  of  their  evils  move? 
'There  is : — else  much  more  wretched  were  the  case 
Of  men  than  beasts  :     But  oh !   the  exceeding  grace 
Of  Highest  God  that  loves  His  creatures  so, 
And  all  His  works  with  mercy  doth  embrace, 
That  blessed  Angels  He  sends  to  and  fro, 
To  serve  to  wicked  man,  to  serve  His  wicked  foe  I " 

Spenser, 


CHAPTER  II. 


A  MILE  off, 
and  a  thousand 
feet  down. 

So  Tom  found 
i  t ;     though     i  t 
seemed  as  if  he 
could      have 
chucked  a  pebble  on 
to    the    back    of    the 
woman  in  the  red  pet-» 
ticoat  who  was  weed- 
ing- in  the  garden,  or 
even   across    the    dale 
to   the   rocks  beyond. 
For  the  bottom  of  the 
valley    was    just    one 
field  broad,  and  on  the 
other     side     ran     the 
stream  ;  and  above  it, 
gray  crag,  gray  down, 
gray  stair,  gray  moor, 
walled  up  to  heaven. 
A  quiet,   silent,   rich,   happy  place  ;  a  narrow  crack 


40  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

cut  deep  into  the  earth ;  so  deep,  and  so  out  of  the  way, 
that  the  bad  bogies  can  hardly  find  it  out.  The  name 
of  the  place  is  Vendale  ;  and  if  you  want  to  see  it  for 
yourself,  you  must  go  up  into  the  High  Craven,  and 
search  from  Bolland  Forest  north  by  Ingleborough  to 
the  Nine  Standards  and  Cross  Fell  ;  and  if  you  have 
not  found  it,  you  must  turn  south,  and  search  the  Lake 
Mountains,  down  to  Scaw  Fell  and  the  sea  ;  and  then, 
if  you  have  not  found  it,  you  must  go  northward  again 
by  merry  Carlisle,  and  search  the  Cheviots  all  across, 
from  Annan  Water  to  Berwick  Law  ;  and  then,  whether 
you  have  found  Vendale  or  not,  you  will  have  found 
such  a  country,  and  such  a  people,  as  ought  to  make 
you  proud  of  being  a  British  boy. 

So  Tom  went  to  go  down  ;  and  first  he  wrent  down 
three  hundred  feet  of  steep  heather,  mixed  up  with  loose 
brown  gritstone,  as  rough  as  a  file  ;  which  was  not 
pleasant  to  his  poor  little  heels,  as  he  came  bump, 
stump,  jump,  down  the  steep.  And  still  he  thought  ha 
could  throw  a  stone  into  the  garden. 

Then  he  went  down  three  hundred  feet  of  limestone 
terraces,  one  below  the  other,  as  straight  as  if  a  carpentet 
had  ruled  them  with  his  ruler  and  then  cut  them  out 
with  his  chisel.     There  was  no  heath  there,  but — 

First,  a  little  grass  slope,  covered  with  the  prettiest 
flowers,  rockrose  and  saxifrage,  and  thyme  and  basil, 
and  all  sorts  of  sweet  herbs. 

Then  bump  down  a  two-foot  step  of  limestone. 

Then  another  bit  of  grass  and  flowers. 

Then  bump  dowm  a  one-foot  step. 

Then  another  bit  of  grass  and  flowers  for  fifty  yards, 
as  steep  as  the  house-roof,  where  he  had  to  slide  down 
on  his  dear  little  tail. 

Then  another  step  of  stone,  ten  feet  high  ;  and  there 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  4 1 

lie  had  to  stop  himself,  and  crawl  along  the  edge  to  find 
a  crack  ;  for  if  he  had  rolled  over,  he  would  have  rolled 
right  into  the  old  woman's  garden,  and  frightened  her 
out  of  her  wits. 

Then,  when  he  had  found  a  dark,  narrow  crack,  full 
of  green-stalked  fern,  such  as  hangs  in  the  basket  in  the 
drawing-room,  and  had  crawled  down  through  it,  with 
knees  and  elbows,  as  he  would  down  a  chimney,  there 
was  another  grass  slope,  and  another  step,  and  so  on, 
till — oh,  dear  me  !  I  wish  it  was  all  over  ;  and  so  did 
lie.  And  yet  he  thought  he  could  throw  a  stone  into 
the  old  woman's  garden. 

At  last  he  came  to  a  bank  of  beautiful  shrubs  ;  white- 
beam  with  its  great  silver-backed  leaves,  and  mountain- 
ash,  and  oak  ;  and  below  them  cliff  and  crag,  cliff  and 
crag,  with  great  beds  of  crown-ferns  and  wood-sedge  ; 
while  through  the  shrubs  he  could  see  the  stream  spark- 
ling, and  hear  it  murmur  on  the  white  pebbles.  He 
-did  not  know  that  it  was  three  hundred  feet  below. 

You  would  have  been  giddy,  perhaps,  at  looking 
down  :  but  Tom  was  not.  He  was  a  brave  little  chim- 
ney-sweep ;  and  when  he  found  himself  on  the  top  of 
a  high  cliff,  instead  of  sitting  down  and  crying  for  his 
baba  (though  he  never  had  had  any  baba  to  cry  for),  he 
said,  uAh,  this  will  just  suit  me!"  though  he  was 
very  tired  ;  and  down  he  went,  by  stock  and  stone, 
sedge  and  ledge,  bush  and  rush,  as  if  he"  had  been 
born  a  jolly  little  black  ape,  with  four  hands  instead  of 
two. 

And  all  the  while  he  never  saw  the  Irish-woman 
coming  down  behind  him. 

But  he  was  getting  terribly  tired  now.  The  burning 
sun  on  the  fells  had  sucked  him  up  ;  but  the  damp  heat 
of  the  woody  crag  sucked  him  up  still  more  ;  and  the 

4 —  Water-Babies 


42  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

perspiration  ran  out  of  the  ends  of  his  fingers  and  toes, 
and  washed  him  cleaner  than  he  had  been  for  a  whole 
year.  But,  of  course,  he  dirtied  everything  terribly  as 
he  went.  There  has  been  a  great  black  smudge  all 
down  the  crag  ever  since.  And  there  have  been  more 
black  beetles  in  Vendale  since  than  ever  were  known 
before  ;  all,  of  course,  owing  to  Tom's  having  blacked 
the  original  papa  of  them  all,  just  as  he  was  setting  off 
to  be  married,  with  a  sky-blue  coat,  and  scarlet  leggings, 
as  smart  as  a  gardener's  dog  with  a  polyanthus  in  his 
mouth. 

At  last  he  got  to  the  bottom.  But,  behold,  it  was  not 
the  bottom — as  people  usually  find  when  they  are  coming 
down  a  mountain.  For  at  the  foot  of  the  crag  were 
heaps  and  heaps  of  fallen  limestone  of  every  size  from 
that  of  your  head  to  that  of  a  stage-wagon,  with  holes 
between  them  full  of  sweet  heath-fern  ;  and  before  Tom 
got  through  them,  he  was  out  in  the  bright  sunshine 
again  ;  and  then  he  felt,  once  for  all  and  suddenly,  as 
people  generally  do,  that  he  was  b-e-a-t,  beat. 

You  must  expect  to  be  beat  a  few  times  in  your  life, 
little  man,  if  you  live  such  a  life  as  a  man  ought  to  live, 
let  you  be  as  strong  and  healthy  as  you  may  :  and  when 
you  are  you  will  find  it  a  very  ugly  feeling.  I  hope 
that  that  day  you  mav  have  a  stout  staunch  friend  by 
you  who  is  not  beat  ;  for,  if  you  have  not,  you  had  best 
lie  where  you  are,  and  wait  for  better  times,  as  poor 
Tom  did. 

He  could  not  ^et  on.  The  sun  was  burninp-  and  vet 
he  felt  chill  all  over.  He  was  quite  empty,  and  yet  he 
felt  quite  sick.  There  were  but  two  hundred  yards  of 
smooth  pasture  between  him  and  the  cottage,  and  yet 
he  could  not  walk  down  it.  He  could  hear  the  stream 
murmuring  only  one  field  beyond  it,  and  yet  it  seemed 
to  him  as  if  it  was  a  hundred  miles  off. 


A   FAIRY   TAhh   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  43 

He  lay  down  on  the  grass  till  the  beetles  ran  over 
him,  and  the  flies  settled  on  his  nose.  I  don't  know 
when  he  would  have  got  up  again,  if  the  gnats  and  the 
midges  had  not  taken  compassion  on  him.  But  the 
gnats  blew  their  trumpets  so  loud  in  his  ear,  and  the 
midges  nibbled  so  at  his  hands  and  face  wherever  they 
could  find  a  place  free  from  soot,  that  at  last  he  woke 
up,  and  stumbled  away,  down  over  a  low  wall,  and  into 
a  narrow  road,  and  up  to  the  cottage-door. 

And  a  neat,  pretty  cottage  it  was,  with  clipped  yew 
hedges  all  round  the  garden,  and  yews  inside,  too,  cut 
into  peacocks  and  trumpets  and  teapots  and  all  kinds  of 
queer  shapes.  And  out  of  the  open  door  came  a  noise 
like  that  of  the  frogs  on  the  Great-A,  when  they  know 
that  it  is  going  to  be  scorching  hot  to-morrow — and  how 
they  know  that  I  don't  know,  and  you  don't  know,  and 
nobodv  knows. 

He  came  slowly  up  to  the  open  door,  which  was  all 
hung  round  with  clematis  and  roses  ;  and  then  peeped 
in,  half-afraid. 

And  there  sat  by  the  empty  fireplace,  which  was  filled 
with  a  pot  of  sweet  herbs,  the  nicest  old  woman  that 
ever  was  seen,  in  her  red  petticoat,  and  short  dimity 
bedgown,  and  clean  white  cap,  with  a  black  silk  hand- 
kerchief over  it,  tied  under  her  chin.  At  her  feet  sat  the 
grandfather  of  all  the  cats  ;  and  opposite  her  sat,  on  two 
benches,  twelve  or  fourteen  neat,  rosy,  chubby  little 
children,  learning  their  Chris-cross-row  ;  and  gabble 
enough  they  made  about  it. 

Such  a  pleasant  cottage  it  was,  with  a  shiny  clean  stone 
rioor,  and  curious  old  prints  on  the  walls,  and  an  old 
black  oak  sideboard  full  of  bright  pewter  and  brass  dishes, 
and  a  cuckoo  clock  in  the  corner,  which  began  shouting 
as  soon  as  Tom  appeared  :  not  that  it  was  frightened  at 
Tom,  but  that  it  was  just  eleven  o'clock 


44  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

All  the  children  started  at  Tom's  dirty  black  figure — ■ 
the  girls  began  to  cry,  and  the  boys  began  to  laugh,  and 
all  pointed  at  him  rudely  enough ;  but  Tom  was  too 
tired  to  care  for  that. 

"What  art  thou,  and  what  dost  want?  "  cried  the  old 
dame.  "A  chimney-sweep]  Away  with  thee!  I'll 
have  no  sweeps  here." 

4 'Water,"  said  poor  little  Tom,  quite  faint. 

"Water?  There's  plenty  i'  the  beck,"  she  said, 
quite  sharply. 

"But  I  can't  get  there;  I'm  most  clemmed  with 
hunger  and  drought."  And  Tom  sank  down  upon  the 
door-step,  and  laid  his  head  against  the  post. 

And  the  old  dame  looked  at  him  through  her 
spectacles  one  minute,  and  two,  and  three  ;  and  then 
she  said,  "  He's  sick  ;  and  a  bairn's  a  bairn,  sweep  or 
none." 

"Water,"  said  Tom. 

"God  forgive  me!"  and  she  put  by  her  spectacles, 
and  rose,  and  came  to  Tom.  "Water's  bad  for  thee; 
I'll  give  thee  milk."  And  she  toddled  off  into  the 
next  room,  and  brought  a  cup  of  milk  and  a  bit  of 
bread. 

Tom  drank  the  milk  off  at  one  draught,  and  then 
looked  up,  revived. 

"  Where  didst  come  from  ?  "  said  the  dame. 

"Over  Fell,  there,"  said  Tom,  and  pointed  up  into 
the  sky. 

"  Over  Harthover?  and  down  Lewthwaite  Crag?  Art 
sure  thou  art  not  lying  ?  " 

"Why  should  I?"  said  Tom,  and  leant  his  head 
against  the  post. 

"  And  how  got  ye  up  there?  " 

"  I  came  over  from  the  Place  ;"  and  Tom  was  so  tired 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  45 

and  desperate  he  had  no  heart  or  time  to  think  of  a 
story,  so  he  told  all  the  truth  in  a  few  words. 

"  Bless  thy  little  heart !  And  thou  hast  not  been 
stealing,  then?  " 

uNo." 

u  Bless  thy  little  heart !  and  I'll  warrant  not.  Why, 
God's  guided  the  bairn,  because  he  was  innocent ! 
Away  from  the  Place,  and  over  Harthover  Fell,  and 
down  L,ewthwaite  Crag?  Who  ever  heard  the  like, 
if  God  hadn't  led  him?  Why  dost  not  eat  thy 
bread?" 

"  I  can't." 

"It's  good  enough,  for  I  made  it  myself." 

"I  can't,"  said  Tom,  and  he  laid  his  head  on  his 
knees,  and  then  asked — 

uIsit  Sunday?" 

u  No,  then  ;  why  should  it  be?" 
Because  I  hear  the  church-bells  ringing  so." 
Bless  thy  pretty  heart !     The  bairn's  sick.     Come 
wi'  me,  and  I'll  hap  thee  up  somewhere.     If  thou  wert 
a  bit  cleaner  I'd  put  thee  in  my  own  bed,  for  the  Lord's 
sake.      But  come  along  here." 

But  when  Tom  tried  to  get  up,  he  was  so  tired  and 
giddy  that  she  had  to  help  him  and  lead  him. 

She  put  him  in  an  outhouse  upon  soft,  sweet  hay 
and  an  old  rug,  and  bade  him  sleep  off  his  walk,  and 
she  would  come  to  him  when  school  was  over,  in  an 
hour's  time. 

And  so  she  went  in  again,  expecting  Tom  to  fall  fast 
asleep  at  once. 

But  Tom  did  not  fall  asleep. 

Instead  of  it  he  turned  and  tossed  and  kicked  about  in 
the  strangest  way,  and  felt  so  hot  all  over  that  he  longed 
to  get  into  the  river  and  cool  himself ;  and  then  he  fell 


u 


46  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

half  asleep,  and  dreamt  that  he  heard  the  little  white 
lady  crying  to  him,  "Oh,  you're  so  dirty  ;  go  and  be 
washed  ;  "  and  then  that  he  heard  the  Irish-woman  say- 
ing, "Those  that  wish  to  be  clean,  clean  thev  will  be." 
And  then  he  heard  the  church-bells  ring  so  loud,  close 
to  him,  too,  that  he  was  sure  it  must  be  Sunday,  in  spite 
of  what  the  old  dame  had  said  ;  and  he  would  go  to 
church,  and  see  what  a  church  was  like  inside,  for  he 
had  never  been  in  one,  poor  little  fellow,  in  all  his  life. 
But  the  people  would  never  let  him  come  in,  all  over 
soot  and  dirt  like  that.  He  must  go  to  the  river  and  wash 
first.  And  he  said  out  loud  again  and  again,  though 
being  half  asleep  he  did  not  know  it,  "  I  must  be  clean, 
I  must  be  clean." 

All  of  a  sudden  he  found  himself,  not  in  the  outhouse 
on  the  hay,  but  in  the  middle  of  a  meadow,  over  the 
road,  with  the  stream  just  before  him,  saying  continually, 
"  I  must  be  clean,  I  must  be  clean."  He  had  got  there 
on  his  own  legs,  between  sleep  and  awake,  as  children 
will  often  get  out  of  bed,  and  go  about  the  room  when 
they  are  not  quite  well.  But  he  was  not  a  bit  surprised, 
and  went  on  to  the  bank  of  the  brook,  and  lay  down  on 
the  grass,  and  looked  into  the  clear,  clear  limestone 
water,  with  every  pebble  at  the  bottom  bright  and  clean, 
while  the  little  silver  trout  dashed  about  in  fright  at  the 
sight  of  his  black  face  ;  and  he  dipped  his  hand  in  and 
found  it  so  cool,  cool,  cool  ;  and  he  said,  "I  will  be  a 
fish ;  I  will  swim  in  the  water ;  I  must  be  clean,  I  must 
be  clean." 

So  he  pulled  off  all  his  clothes  in  such  haste  that  he 
tore  some  of  them,  which  was  easy  enough  with  such 
ragged  old  things.  And  he  put  his  poor  hot  sore  feet 
into  the  water  ;  and  then  his  legs  ;  and  the  farther  he 
went  in,  the  more  the  church-bells  rang  in  his  head. 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  47 


u 


'Ah!"  said  Tom,  "I  must  be  quick  and  wash  my- 
self ;  the  bells  are  ringing  quite  loud  now  ;  and  they 
will  stop  soon,  and  then  the  door  will  be  shut,  and  I 
shall  never  be  able  to  get  in  at  all." 

Tom  was  mistaken  :  for  in  England  the  church  doors 
are  left  open  all  service  time,  for  everybody  who  likes 
to  come  in,  Churchman  or  Dissenter ;  ay,  even  if  he  were 
a  Turk  or  a  Heathen  ;  and  if  any  man  dared  to  turn  him 
out,  as  long  as  he  behaved  quietly,  the  good  old  English 
law  would  punish  that  man,  as  he  deserved,  for  order- 
ing any  peaceable  person  out  of  God's  house,  which 
belongs  to  all  alike.  But  Tom  did  not  know  that,  any 
more  than  he  knew  a  great  deal  more  which  people 
ought  to  know. 

And  all  the  while  he  never  saw  the  Irish-woman,  not 
behind  him  this  time,  but  before. 

For  just  before  he  came  to  the  river-side,  she  had  stept 
down  into  the  cool  clear  water  ;  and  her  shawl  and  her 
petticoat  floated  off  her,  and  the  green  water-weeds 
floated  round  her  sides,  and  the  white  water-lilies  floated 
round  her  head,  and  the  fairies  of  the  stream  came  up 
from  the  bottom  and  bore  her  away  and  down  upon  their 
arms  ;  for  she  was  the  Queen  of  them  all  ;  and  perhaps 
of  more  besides. 

"Where  have  you  been?"  they  asked  her. 

"  I  have  been  smoothing  sick  folks'  pillows,  and  whis- 
pering sweet  dreams  into  their  ears  ;  opening  cottage 
casements,  to  let  out  the  stifling  air  ;  coaxing  little  chil- 
dren away  from  gutters,  and  foul  pools  where  fever 
breeds  ;  turning  women  from  the  gin-shop  door,  and 
staying  men's  hands  as  they  were  going  to  strike  their 
wives  ;  doing  all  I  can  to  help  those  who  will  not  help 
themselves  :  and  little  enough  that  is,  and  weary  work 
for  me.  But  I  have  brought  you  a  new  little  brother, 
and  watched  him  safe  all  the  way  here." 


48  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

Then  all  the  fairies  laughed  for  joy  at  the  thought  that 
they  had  a  little  brother  comiug. 

"  But  mind,  maidens,  he  must  not  see  you,  or  know 
that  you  are  here.  He  is  but  a  savage  now,  and  like  the 
beasts  which  perish ;  and  from  the  beasts  which  perish 
he  must  learn.  So  you  must  not  play  with  him,  or  speak 
to  him,  or  let  him  see  you  :  but  only  keep  him  from 
being  harmed." 

Then  the  fairies  were  sad,  because  they  could  not  play 
with  their  new  brother,  but  they  always  did  what  they 
were  told. 

And  their  Queen  floated  away  down  the  river  ;  and 
whither  she  went,  thither  she  came.  But  all  this  Tom, 
of  course,  never  saw  or  heard  :  and  perhaps  if  he  had 
it  would  have  made  little  difference  in  the  story  ;  for  he 
was  so  hot  and  thirsty,  and  longed  so  to  be  clean  for 
once,  that  he  tumbled  himself  as  quick  as  he  could  into 
the  clear  cool  stream. 

And  he  had  not  been  in  it  two  minutes  before  he  fell 
fast  asleep,  into  the  quietest,  sunniest,  cosiest  sleep  that 
ever  he  had  in  his  life  ;  and  he  dreamt  about  the  green 
meadows  by  which  he  had  walked  that  morning,  and 
the  tall  elm-trees,  and  the  sleeping  cows  ;  and  after  that 
he  dreamt  of  nothing  at  all. 

The  reason  of  his  falling  into  such  a  delightful  sleep 
is  very  simple  ;  and  yet  hardly  any  one  has  found  it  out. 
It  was  merely  that  the  fairies  took  him. 

Some  people  think  that  there  are  no  fairies.  Cousin 
Cramchild  tells  little  folks  so  in  his  Conversations. 
Well,  perhaps,  there  are  none — in  Boston,  U.  S.,  where 
he  was  raised.  There  are  only  a  clumsy  lot  of  spirits 
there,  who  can't  make  people  hear  without  thumping 
on  the  table:  but  they  get  their  living  thereby,  and  I 
suppose  that  is  all  they  want.     And  Aunt  Agitate,  iu 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


49 


her   Arguments   on   political   economy,   says  there  are 


-».i 


none.     Well,  perhaps  there  are  none — in  her  political 


50  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

economy.  But  it  is  a  wide  world,  my  little  man 
— and  thank  Heaven  for  it,  or  else,  between  crino- 
lines and  theories,  some  of  us  would  get  squashed — and 
plenty  of  room  in  it  for  fairies,  without  people  seeing 
them  ;  unless,  of  course,  they  look  in  the  right  place. 
The  most  wonderful  and  the  strongest  things  in  the 
world,  you  know,  are  just  the  things  which  no  one  can 
see.  There  is  life  in  you  ;  and  it  is  the  life  in  you  which 
makes  you  grow,  and  move,  and  think  :  and  yet  you 
can't  see  it.  And  there  is  steam  in  a  steam-engine  ;  and 
that  is  what  makes  it  move  :  and  yet  you  can't  see  it ; 
and  so  there  may  be  fairies  in  the  world,  and  they  may 
be  just  what  makes  the  world  go  round  to  the  old  tune 
of 

u  O  est  P  amour,  V  amour,  V  amour 
Qui  fait  la  monde  a  la  ronde  :  " 

and  yet  no  one  may  be  able  to  see  them  except  those 
whose  hearts  are  going  round  to  that  same  tune.  At  all 
events,  we  will  make  believe  that  there  are  fairies  in  the 
world.  It  will  not  be  the  last  time  by  many  a  one  that 
we  shall  have  to  make  believe.  And  yet,  after  all,  there 
is  no  need  for  that.  There  must  be  fairies  ;  for  this  is  a 
fairy  tale  :  and  how  can  one  have  a  fairy  tale  if  there  are 
no  fairies? 

You  don't  see  the  logic  of  that?  Perhaps  not.  Then 
please  not  to  see  the  logic  of  a  great  many  arguments 
exactly  like  it,  which  you  will  hear  before  your  beard  is 
gray. 

The  kind  old  dame  came  back  at  twelve,  when  school 
was  over,  to  look  at  Tom  :  but  there  was  no  Tom  there. 
She  looked  about  for  his  footprints  ;  but  the  ground  was 
so  hard  that  there  was  no  slot,  as  they  say  in  dear  old 
North  Devon.    And  if  you  grow  up  to  be  a  brave  healthy 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


5* 


man,  you  may  know  some  day  what  no  slot  means,  and 
know,  too,  I  hope,  what  a  slot  does  mean — a  broad  slot, 
with  blunt  claws,  which  makes  a  man  put  out  his  cigar, 
and  set  his  teeth,  and  tighten  his  girths,  when  he  sees 
it  ;  and  what  his  rights  mean,  if  he  has  them,  brow,  bay, 
tray,  and  points  ;  and  see  something  worth  seeing  between 
Haddon  Wood  and  Countisbury  Cliff,  with  good  Mr. 
Palk  Collyns  to  show  you  the  way  and  mend  your  bones 
as  fast  as  you  smash  them.  Only  when  that  jolly  day 
comes,  please  don' t  break  your 
neck  ;  stogged  in  a  mire  you 
never  will  be,  I  trust  ;  for  you 
are  a  heath-cropper  bred  and 
born. 

So  the  old  dame  went  in 
again  quite  sulky,  thinking 
that  little  Tom  had  tricked 
her  with  a  false  story,  and 
shammed    ill,  and  then   run 


awav  again. 


But  she  altered  her  mind 
the  next  day.  For  when  Sir 
John  and  the  rest  of  them 
had  run  themselves  out  of 
breath,  and  lost  Tom,  they  went  back  again,  looking 
very  foolish. 

And  they  looked  more  foolish  still  when  Sir  John 
heard  more  of  the  story  from  the  nurse  ;  and  more 
foolish  still,  again,  when  they  heard  the  whole  story 
from  Miss  Ellie,  the  little  lady  in  white.  All  she  had 
seen  was  a  poor  little  black  chimney-sweep,  crying  and 
sobbing,  and  going  to  get  up  the  chimney  again.  Of 
course,  she  was  very  much  frightened  :  and  no  wondes. 
But  that  W3.s  all      The  boy  had  taken  nothino;  in  the 


52  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

room  ;  by  the  mark  of  his  little  sooty  feet,  they  eould 
see  that  he  had  never  been  off  the  hearth-rug  till  the 
nurse  caught  hold  of  him.     It  was  all  a  mistake 

So  Sir  John  told  Grimes  to  go  home,  and  promised 
him  five  shillings  if  he  would  bring  the  boy  quietly  up 
to  him,  without  beating  him,  that  he  might  be  sure 
of  the  truth.  For  he  took  for  granted,  and  Grimes, 
too,  that  Tom  had  made  his  way  home. 

But  no  Tom  came  back  to  Mr.  Grimes  that  evening ; 
and  he  went  to  the  police-office  to  tell  them  to  look  out 
for  the  boy.  But  no  Tom  was  heard  of.  As  for  his 
having  gone  over  those  great  fells  to  Vendale,  they  no 
more  dreamed  of  that  than  of  his  having  gone  to  the 
moon. 

So  Mr.  Grimes  came  up  to  Harthover  next  day  with 
a  very  sour  face  ;  but  when  he  got  there,  Sir  John  was 
over  the  hills  and  far  away  ;  and  Mr.  Grimes  had  to  sit 
in  the  outer  servants'  hall  all  day,  and  drink  strong  ale 
to  wash  away  his  sorrows  ;  and  they  were  washed  away 
long  before  Sir  John  came  back. 

For  good  Sir  John  had  slept  very  badly  that  night ; 
and  he  said  to  his  lady,  u  My  dear,  the  boy  must  have 
got  over  into  the  grouse-moors,  and  lost  himself ;  and  he 
lies  very  heavily  on  my  conscience,  poor  little  lad.  But 
I  know  what  I  will  do." 

So  at  five  the  next  morning  up  he  got,  and  into  his 
bath,  and  into  his  shooting-jacket  and  gaiters,  and  into 
the  stableyard,  like  a  fine  old  English  gentleman,  with 
a  face  as  red  as  a  rose,  and  a  hand  as  hard  as  a  table,  and 
a  back  as  broad  as  a  bullock's  ;  and  bade  them  bring  his 
shooting  pony,  and  the  keeper  to  come  on  his  pony,  and 
the  huntsman,  and  the  first  whip,  and  the  second  whip, 
and  the  underkeeper  with  the  bloodhound  in  a  leash — a 
great  dog,  as  tall  as  a  calf,  of  the  color  of  a  gravel- 


A  FAIRY  TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


53 


walk,  with  mahogany  ears  and  nose,  and  a  throat  like  a 
chtirch-bell.  They  took  him  up  to  the  place  where  Tom 
had  gone  into  the  wood  ;  and  there  the  hound  lifted  up 
his  mighty  voice,  and  told  them  all  he  knew. 

Then  he  took  them  to  the  place  where  Tom  had 
climbed  the  wall  ;  and  they  shoved  it  down,  and  all  gol 
through. 

And  then  the 
wise  dog  took  them 
over  the  moor,  and 
over  the  fells,  step 
by  step,  very  slowly; 
for  the  scent  was  a 
day  old,  you  know, 
and  very  light  from 
the  heat  and 
drought.  But  that 
was  why  cunning 
old  Sir  John  started 
at  five  in  the  morn- 
ing. 

And  at  last  he 
came  to  the  top  of 
Lewthwaite  Crag, 
and  there  he  bayed, 
and  looked  up  in 
their  faces,  as  much 
as  to  say,  u  I  tell 
you  he  is  gone  down  here  ! ' ' 

They  could  hardly  believe  that  Tom  would  have  gone 
so  far  ;  and  when  they  looked  at  that  awful  cliff,  they 
could  never  believe  that  he  would  have  dared  to  faos  it 
But,  if  the  dog  said  so,  it  must  be  true. 

(i  Heaven  forgive  us  I  "  said  Sir  John.     "If  vm  find 


54  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

him  at  all,  we  shall  find  him  lying  at  the  bottom."  And 
he  slapped  his  great  hand  upon  his  great  thigh,  and 
said — 

"Who  will  go  down  over  Lewthwaite  Crag,  and  see 
if  that  boy  is  alive?  Oh,  that  I  were  twenty  years 
younger,  and  I  would  go  down  myself!  "  And  so  he 
would  have  done,  as  well  as  any  sweep  in  the  county. 
Then  he  said — 

"Twenty  pounds  to  the  man  who  brings  me  that 
boy  alive!"  ana  as  was  his  way,  what  he  said  he 
meant. 

Now  among  the  lot  was  a  little  groom-boy,  a  very 
little  groom,  indeed  ;  and  he  was  the  same  who  had 
ridden  up  the  court,  and  told  Tom  to  come  to  the  Hall  ; 
and  he  said — 

"Twenty  pounds  or  none,  I  will  go  down  over 
Lewthwaite  Crag,  if  it's  only  for  the  poor  boy's  sake. 
For  he  was  as  civil  a  spoken  little  chap  as  ever  climbed 
a  flue." 

So  down  over  Lewthwaite  Crag  he  went  :  a  very  smart 
groom  he  was  at  the  top,  and  a  very  shabby  one  at  the 
bottom  ;  for  he  tore  his  gaiters,  and  he  tore  his  breeches, 
and  he  tore  his  jacket,  and  he  burst  his  braces,  and  he 
burst  his  boots,  and  he  lost  his  hat,  and,  what  was  worst 
of  all,  he  lost  his  shirt  pin,  which  he  prized  very  much, 
for  it  was  gold,  and  he  had  won  it  in  a  raffle  at  Malton, 
and  there  was  a  figure  at  the  top  of  it,  of  t'ould  mare, 
noble  old  Beeswing  herself,  as  natural  as  life  ;  so  it 
was  a  really  severe  loss  :  but  he  never  saw  anything  of 
Tom. 

And  all  the  while  Sir  John  and  the  rest  were  riding 
round,  full  three  miles  to  the  right,  and  back  again,  to 
get  into  Vendale,  and  to  the  foot  of  the  crag. 

When  they  came  to  the   old  dame's  school,  all  the 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  55 

children  came  out  to  see.  And  the  old  dame  came  out^ 
too  ;  and  when  she  saw  Sir  John  she  curtsied  very  low, 
for  she  was  a  tenant  of  his. 

"Well,  dame,  and  how  are  you?"  said  Sir  John. 

"  Blessings  on  you  as  broad  as  your  back,  Harthover," 
says  she — she  didn't  call  him  Sir  John,  but  only  Harth- 
over,  for  that  is  the  fashion  in  the  North  country — "and 
welcome  into  Vendale  :  but  you're  no  hunting  the  fox 
this  time  of  the  year  ?  " 

"  I  am  hunting,  and  strange  game,  too,"  said  he. 

"Blessings  on  your  heart,  and  what  makes  you  look 
so  sad  the  morn  ?  ' ' 

"I'm  looking  for  a  lost  child,  a  chimney-sweep,  that 
is  run  away. ' ' 

"Oh,  Harthover,  Harthover, "  says  she,  "ye  were 
always  a  just  man  and  a  merciful  ;  and  ye' 11  no  harm  the 
poor  little  lad  if  I  give  you  tidings  of  him  ?  " 

"  Not  I,  not  I,  dame.  I'm  afraid  we  hunted  him  out 
of  the  house  all  on  a  miserable  mistake,  and  the  hound 
has  brought  him  to  the  top  of  Lewthwaite  Crag, 
and- " 

Whereat  the  old  dame  broke  out  crying,  without  let- 
ting him  finish  his  story. 

"So  he  told  me  the  truth  after  all,  poor  little  dear  ! 
Ah,  first  thoughts  are  best,  and  a  body's  heart' 11  guide 
them  right,  if  they  will  but  hearken  to  it."  And  then 
she  told  Sir  John  all. 

"Bring  the  dog  here,  and  lay  him  on,"  said  Sir 
John,  without  another  word,  and  he  set  his  teeth  very 
hard. 

And  the  dog  opened  at  once  ;  and  went  away  at  the 
back  of  the  cottage,  over  the  road,  and  over  the  meadow, 
and  through  a  bit  of  alder  copse  ;  and  there,  upon  an 
alder  stump,  they  saw  Tom's  clothes  lying.     And  then 


56  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

they  knew  as  much  about  it  all  as  there  was  .any  need 
to  know. 

And  Tom  ? 

Ah,  now  comes  the  most  wonderful  part  of  this  won- 
derful story.  Tom,  when  he  woke,  for  of  course  he 
woke — children  always  wake  after  they  have  slept  ex- 
actly as  long  as  it  is  good  for  them — found  himself 
swimming  about  in  the  stream,  being  about  four  inches, 
or — that  I  may  be  accurate — 3*87902  inches  long,  and 
having  round  the  parotid  region  of  his  fauces  a  set  of 
external  gills  (I  hope  you  understand  all  the  big  words) 
just  like  those  of  a  sucking  eft,  which  he  mistook  for  a 
lace  frill,  till  he  pulled  at  them,  found  he  hurt  himself, 
and  made  up  his  mind  that  they  were  part  of  himself, 
and  best  left  alone. 

In  fact,  the  fairies  had  turned  him  into  a  water- 
baby. 

A  water-baby  ?  You  never  heard  of  a  water-baby. 
Perhaps  not.  That  is  the  very  reason  why  this  story 
was  written.  There  are  a  great  many  things  in  the 
world  which  you  never  heard  of ;  and  a  great  many  more 
which  nobody  ever  heard  of ;  and  a  great  many  things, 
too,  which  nobody  will  ever  hear  of,  at  least  until  the 
coming  of  the  Cocqcigrues,  when  man  shall  be  the 
measure  of  all  things. 

u  But  there  are  no  such  things  as  water-babies." 

How  do  you  know  that  ?  Have  you  been  there  to 
see  ?  And  if  you  had  been  there  to  see,  and  had  seen 
none,  that  would  not  prove  that  there  were  none.  If 
Mr.  Garth  does  not  find  a  fox  in  Kversley  Wood — as 
folks  sometimes  fear  he  never  will — that  does  not  prove 
that  there  are  no  such  things  as  foxes.  And  as  is 
Kverslev  Wood  to  all  the  woods  in  England,  so  are  the 
waters  wTe  know  to  all  the  waters  in  the  world.     And  no 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


57 


one  has  a  right  to  say  that  no  water-babies  exist,  till 
they  have  seen  no  water-babies  existing  ;  which  is  Quite 
a  different  thing,  mind,  from  not  seeing  water-babies  : 
and  a  thing  which  nobody  ever  did,  or  perhaps  ever 
will  do. 

u  But,  surely,  if  there  were  water-babies,  somebody 
would    have    caught   one    at 
least?" 


Well,  how  do  you  know 
that  somebody  has  not  ? 

"  But  they  would  have  put 
It  into  spirits,  or  into  the 
Illustrated  News,  or  perhaps 
cut  it  into  two  halves,  poor 
dear  little  thing,  and  sent  one 
to  Professor  Owen  and  one 
to  Professor  Huxley,  to  see 
what  they  would  each  say 
about  it." 

Ah,  my  dear  little  man  ! 
that  does  not  follow  at  all, 
as  you  will  see  before  the  end 
of  the  story. 

u  But  a  water-baby  is  con- 
trary to  nature. ' ' 

Well,  but,  my  dear  little 
man,  you  must  learn  to 
talk  about  such  things,  when  you  grow  older,  in  a  ver 
different  way  from  that.  You  must  not  talk  abom 
"ain't"  and  "can't"  when  you  speak  of  this  great 
wonderful  world  round  you,  of  which  the  wisest  man 
knows  only  the  very  smallest  corner,  and  is,  as  the 
great  Sir  Isaac  Newton  said,  only  a  child  picking*  «l* 
pebbles  on  the  shore  of  a  boundless  ocean. 

5 —  Water  Babies 


58  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

You  must  not  say  that  this  cannot  be,  or  that  that 
is  contrary  to  nature.  You  do  not  know  what  Nature 
is,  or  what  she  can  do  ;  and  nobody  knows  ;  not  even 
Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  or  Professor  Owen,  or  Pro- 
fessor Sedgwick,  or  Professor  Huxley,  or  Mr.  Darwin, 
or  Professor  Faraday,  or  Mr.  Grove,  or  any  other  of 
the  great  men  whom  good  boys  are  taught  to  respect. 
They  are  very  wise  men  ;  and  you  must  listen  respect- 
fully to  all  they  say  :  but  even  if  they  should  say,  which 
I  am  sure  they  never  would,  "  That  cannot  exist.  That 
is  contrary  to  nature,"  you  must  wait  a  little,  arid  see  ; 
for  perhaps  even  they  may  be  wrong.  It  is  only  chil- 
dren who  read  Aunt  Agitate' s  Arguments  or  Cousin 
Cramchild's  Conversations  ;  or  lads  who  go  to  popular 
lectures,  and  see  a  man  pointing  at  a  few  big  ugly  pic- 
tures on  the  wall,  or  making  nasty  smells  with  bottles 
and  squirts,  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  calling  that  anat- 
omy or  chemistry — who  talk  about  "cannot  exist," 
and  "contrary  to  nature."  Wise  men  are  afraid  to 
say  that  there  is  anything  contrary  to  nature,  except 
what  is  contrary  to  mathematical  truth  ;  for  two  and 
two  cannot  make  five,  and  two  straight  lines  cannot 
join  twice,  and  a  part  cannot  be  as  great  as  the  whole, 
and  so  on  (at  least,  so  it  seems  at  present) :  but  the  wiser 
men  are,  the  less  they  talk  about  "cannot."  That  is 
a  very  rash,  dangerous  word,  that  "cannot;"  and  if 
people  use  it  too  often,  the  Queen  of  all  the  Fairies, 
who  makes  the  clouds  thunder  and  the  fleas  bite,  and 
takes  just  as  much  trouble  about  one  as  about  the  other, 
is  apt  to  astonish  them  suddenly  by  showing  them,  that 
though  they  say  she  cannot,  yet  she  can,  and,  what  is 
more,  will,  whether  they  approve  or  not. 

And  therefore  it  is  that  there  are  dozens  and  hun- 
dreds of  things  in  the  world  which  we  should  certainly 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  59 

have  said  were  contrary  to  nature,  if  we  did  not  see  them 
going  on  under  our  eyes  all  day  long.  If  people  had 
never  seen  little  seeds  grow  into  great  plants  and  trees, 
of  quite  different  shape  from  themselves,  and  these 
trees  again  produce  fresh  seeds,  to  grow  into  fresh  trees, 
they  would  have  said,  "The  thing  cannot  be;  it  is 
contrary  to  nature."  And  they  would  have  been  quite 
as  right  in  saying;  so,  as  in  saying1  that  most  other  things 
cannot  be. 

Or  suppose,  again,  that  you  had  come,  like  M.  Du 
Chaillu,  a  traveller  from  unknown  parts  ;  and  that  no 
human  being  had  ever  seen  or  heard  of  an  elephant. 
And  suppose  that  you  described  him  to  people,  and  said, 
"  This  is  the  shape,  and  plan,  and  anatomy  of  the  beast,, 
and  of  his  feet,  and  of  his  trunk,  and  of  his  grinders, 
and  of  his  tusks,  though  they  are  not  tusks  at  all,  but 
two  fore  teeth  run  mad  ;  and  this  is  the  section  of  his 
skull,  more  like  a  mushroom  than  a  reasonable  skull 
of  a  reasonable  or  unreasonable  beast  ;  and  so  forth,  and 
so  forth  ;  and  though  the  beast  (which  I  assure  you  I 
have  seen  and  shot)  is  first  cousin  to  the  little  hairy 
coney  of  Scripture,  second  cousin  to  a  pig,  and  (I  sus- 
pect) thirteenth  or  fourteenth  cousin  to  a  rabbit,  yet  he 
is  the  wisest  of  all  beasts,  and  can  do  everything  save' 
read,  write,  and  cast  accounts."  People  would  surely 
have  said,  "Nonsense;  your  elephant  is  contrary  to 
nature;"  and  have  thought  vou  were  telling;  stories — 
as  the  French  thought  of  he  Vaillant  when  he  came 
back  to  Paris  and  said  that  he  had  shot  a  giraffe  ;  and 
as  the  king  of  the  Cannibal  Islands  thought  of  the  Eng- 
lish sailor,  when  he  said  that  in  his  country  water  turned 
to  marble,  and  rain  fell  as  feathers.  They  would  tell 
you,  the  more  they  knew  of  science,  "Your  elephant 
is  an  impossible  monster,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  com- 


CO  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

parative  anatomy,  as  far  as  yet  known."  To  which 
you  would  answer  the  less,  the  more  you  thought. 

Did  not  learned  men,  too,  hold,  till  within  the  last 
twenty-five  years,  that  a  flying  dragon  was  an  impos- 
sible monster  ?  And  do  we  not  now  know  that  there 
are  hundreds  of  them  found  fossil  up  and  down  the 
world  ?  People  call  them  Pterodactyles  :  but  that  is 
only  because  they  are  ashamed  to  call  them  flying  drag- 
ons, after  denying  so  long  that  flying  dragons  could  exist. 

The  truth  is,  that  folks'  fancy  that  such  and  such 
things  cannot  be,  simply  because  they  have  not  seen 
them,  is  worth  no  more  than  a  savage's  fancy  that  there 
cannot  be  such  a  thing  as  a  locomotive,  because  he 
never  saw  one  running  wild  in  the  forest.  Wise  men 
know  that  their  business  is  to  examine  what  is,  and  not 
to  settle  what  is  not.  They  know  that  there  are  ele- 
phants ;  they  know  that  there  have  been  flying  dragons  ; 
and  the  wiser  they  are,  the  less  inclined  they  will  be  to 
say  positively  that  there  are  no  water-babies. 

No  water-babies,  indeed?  Why,  wise  men  of  old 
said  that  everything  on  earth  had  its  double  in  the 
water  ;  and  you  may  see  that  that  is,  if  not  quite  true, 
still  quite  as  true  as  most  other  theories  which  you  are 
likely  to  hear  for  many  a  day.  There  are  land-babies — 
then  why  not  water-babies?  Are  there  not  water-rats, 
water-flies,  water-crickets,  zvater-crabs,  water-tortoises, 
zvater-scorpions,  water-tigers  and  water-hogs,  water- 
cats  and  water-dogs,  sea-/ions  and  sea-bears,  sea-horses 
and  sea- elephants,  sea-mice  and  sea-urchins,  sea-razors 
and  sea-pens,  sea-combs  and  sea-fans ;  and  of  plants, 
are  there  not  water-grass,  and  zvater-crowfoot,  water- 
milfoil,  and  so  on,  without  end? 

"  But  all  these  things  are  only  nicknames  ;  the  watej 
things  are  not  really  akin  to  the  land  things. * ' 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


6l 


That's  not  always  true.  They  are,  in  millions  of 
cases,  not  only  of  the  same  family,  but  actually  the 
same  individual  creatures.  Do  not  even  you  know  that 
a  green  drake,  and  an  alder-fly,  and  a  dragon-fly,  live 
under  water  till  they  change  their  skins,  just  as  Tom 
changed  his  ?  And  if  a  water  animal  can  continually 
change  into  a  land  animal,  why  should  not  a  land 
animal  sometimes  change  into  a  water  animal  ?  Don't 
be  put  down  by  any  of  Cousin  Cramchild's  arguments,. 


but  stand  up  to  him  like  a  man,  and  answer  him  (quite 
respectfully,  of  course)  thus  : 

If  Cousin  Cramchild  says,  that  if  there  are  water- 
babies,  they  must  grow  into  water-men,  ask  him  how 
"he  knows  that  they  do  not?  and  then,  how  he  knows 
that  they  must,  any  more  than  the  Proteus  of  the  Adels- 
berg  caverns  grows  into  a  perfect  newt. 

If  he  says  that  it  is  too  strange  a  transformation  for 
a  land-baby  to  turn  into  a  water-baby,  ask  him  if  he  ever 
heard  of  the  transformation  of  Syllis,  or  the  Distomas, 
or  the  common  jelly-fish,  of  which  M.  Quatrefages  says 


02  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

excellently  well — "Who  would  not  exclaim  that  a 
miracle  had  come  to  pass,  if  he  saw  a  reptile  come  out 
of  the  egg  dropped  by  the  hen  in  his  poultry-yard,  and 
the  reptile  give  birth  at  once  to  an  indefinite  number 
of  fishes  and  birds?  Yet  the  history  of  the  jelly-fish  is 
quite  as  wonderful  as  that  would  be."  Ask  him  if  he 
knows  about  all  this  ;  and  if  he  does  not,  tell  him  to  go 
and  look  for  himself  ;  and  advise  him  (very  respectfully, 
of  course)  to  settle  no  more  what  strange  things  cannot 
happen,  till  he  has  seen  what  strange  things  do  happen 
every  day. 

If  he  says  that  things  cannot  degrade,  that  is,  change 
downwards  into  lower  forms,  ask  him,  who  told  him 
that  water-babies  were  lower  than  land-babies  ?  But 
even  if  they  were,  does  he  know  about  the  strange 
degradation  of  the  common  goose-barnacles,  which  one 
finds  sticking  on  ships'  bottoms  ;  or  the  still  stranger 
degradation  of  some  cousins  of  theirs,  of  which  one 
hardly  likes  to  talk,  so  shocking  and  ugly  it  is? 

And,  lastly,  if  he  says  (as  he  most  certainly  will) 
that  these  transformations  only  take  place  in  the  lower 
animals,  and  not  in  the  higher,  say  that  that  seems  to 
little  boys,  and  to  some  grown  people,  a  very  strange 
fancy.  For  if  the  changes  of  the  lower  animals  are 
so  wonderful,  and  so  difficult  to  discover,  why  should 
not  there  be  changes  in  the  higher  animals  far  more 
wonderful,  and  far  more  difficult  to  discover?  And 
may  not  man,  the  crown  and  flower  of  all  things,  un- 
dergo some  chaiiQ-e  as  much  more  wonderful  than  all 
the  rest,  as  the  Great  Exhibition  is  more  wonderful 
than  a  rabbit-burrow  ?  Let  him  answer  that.  And 
if  he  says  (as  he  will)  that  not  having  seen  such  a 
change  in  his  experience,  he  is  not  bound  to  believe  it, 
ask  him  respectfully,  where  his  microscope  has  been? 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  63 

Does  not  each  of  us,  in  coming  into  this  world,  go 
through  a  transformation  just  as  wonderful  as  that  of 
a  sea-egg,  or  a  butterfly  ?  and  do  not  reason  and  analogy, 
as  well  as  Scripture,  tell  us  that  that  transformation  is 
not  the  last?  and  that,  though  what  we  shall  be,  we 
know  not,  yet  we  are  here  but  as  the  crawling  cater- 
pillar, and  shall  be  hereafter  as  the  perfect  fly.  The 
old  Greeks,  heathens  as  they  were,  saw  as  much  as  that 
two  thousand  years  ago  ;  and  I  care  very  little  for 
Cousin  Cramchild,  if  he  sees  even  less  than  they.  And 
so  forth,  and  so  forth,  till  he  is  quite  cross.  And  then 
tell  him  that  if  there  are  no  water-babies,  at  least  there 
ought  to  be  ;  and  that,  at  least,  he  cannot  answer. 

And  meanwhile,  my  dear  little  man,  till  you  know 
a  great  deal  more  about  nature  than  Professor  Owen 
and  Professor  Huxley  put  together,  don't  tell  me  about 
what  cannot  be,  or  fancy  that  anything  is  too  wonderful 
to  be  true.  "We  are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made," 
said  old  David  ;  and  so  we  are  ;  and  so  is  everything 
around  us,  down  to  the  very  deal  table.  Yes  ;  much 
more  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  already,  is  the 
table,  as  it  stands  now,  nothing  but  a  piece  of  dead 
deal-wood,  than  if,  as  foxes  say,  and  geese  believe, 
spirits  could  make  it  dance,  or  talk  to  3'ou  by  rapping 
on  it. 

Am  I  in  earnest?  Oh,  dear  no!  Don't  you  know 
that  this  is  a  fairy  tale,  and  all  fun  and  pretence  ;  and 
that  you  are  not  to  believe  one  word  of  it,  even  if  it  is 
true  ? 

But  at  all  events,  so  it  happened  to  Tom.  And,  there- 
fore, the  keeper,  and  the  groom,  and  Sir  John  made  a 
great  mistake,  and  were  very  unhappy  (Sir  John  at 
least)  without  any  reason,  when  they  found  a  black 
thing  in  the  water,  and  said  it  was  Tom's  body,  and 


64  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

that  he  had  been  drowned.  They  were  utterly  mis- 
taken. Tom  was  quite  alive  ;  and  cleaner  and  merriei 
than  he  ever  had  been.  The  fairies  had  washed  him, 
you  see,  in  the  swift  river,  so  thoroughly,  that  not  only 
his  dirt,  but  his  whole  husk  and  shell  had  been  washed 
quite  off  him,  and  the  pretty  little  real  Tom  was  washed, 
out  of  the  inside  of  it,  and  swam  away,  as  a  caddis  does 
when  its  case  of  stones  and  silk  is  bored  through,  and 
away  it  goes  on  its  back,  paddling  to  the  shore,  there  to 
split  its  skin,  and  fly  away  as  a  caperer,  on  four  fawn- 
colored  wings,  with  long  legs  and  horns.  They  are 
foolish  fellows,  the  caperers,  and  fly  into  the  candle 
at  night,  if  you  leave  the  door  open.  We  will  hope 
Tom  will  be  wTiser,  now  he  has  got  safe  out  of  his  sooty 
old  shell. 

But  good  Sir  John  did  not  understand  all  this,  not 
being  a  fellow  of  the  Linnsean  Society ;  and  he  took  it 
into  his  head  that  Tom  was  drowned.  When  they  looked 
into  the  empty  pockets  of  his  shell,  and  found  no  jewels 
there,  nor  money — nothing  but  three  marbles,  and  a 
brass  buttou  with  a  string  to  it — then  Sir  John  did  some- 
thing as  like  crying  as  ever  he  did  in  his  life,  and  blamed 
himself  more  bitterly  than  he  need  have  done.  So  he 
cried,  and  the  groom-boy  cried,  and  the  huntsman  cried, 
and  the  dame  cried,  and  the  little  girl  cried,  and  the 
dairymaid  cried,  and  the  old  nurse  cried  (for  it  was  some- 
what her  fault),  and  my  lady  cried,  for  though  people 
have  wigs,  that  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  have 
hearts  ;  but  the  keeper  did  not  cry,  though  he  had  been 
so  good-natured  to  Tom  the  morning  before;  for  he  was 
so  dried  up  with  running  after  poachers,  that  you  could 
no  more  get  tears  out  of  him  than  milk  out  of  leather; 
and  Grimes  did  not  cry,  for  Sir  John  gave  him  ten 
pounds,  and  he  drank  it  all  in  a  week.     Sir  John  sent. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  6^ 

far  and  wide,  to  find  Tom's  father  and  mother  ;  but  he 
might  have  looked  till  Doomsday  for  them,  for  one 
was  dead,  and  the  other  was  in  Botany  Bay.  And  the 
little  girl  would  not  play  with  her  dolls  for  a  whole 
week,  and  never  forgot  poor  little  Tom.  And  soon  my 
lady  put  a  pretty  little  tombstone  over  Tom's  shell  in 
the  little  churchyard  in  Vendale,  where  the  old  dales- 
men all  sleep  side  by  side  between  the  limestone  crags, 
And  the  dame  decked  it  with  garlands  every  Sunday, 
till  she  grew  so  old  that  she  could  not  stir  abroad  ;  then 
the  little  children  decked  it  for  her.  And  always  she 
sang  an  old,  old  song,  as  she  sat  spinning  what  she  called 
her  wedding-dress.  The  children  could  not  understand 
it,  but  they  liked  it  none  the  less  for  that ;  for  it  was 
very  sweet,  and  very  sad  ;  and  that  was  enough  for  them* 
And  these  are  the  words  of  it : 


66 


THE   WATEk-B  ABIES. 


f 

HEN    all    the 

world  is  young, 
lad, 
And   all  the    trees 

are  green  ; 
And  every  goose  a 
r^j        swan,  lad, 

And  every   lass   a 

qneen  ; 
Then  hey  for  boot 
and  horse,  ladt 


And  round  the  world  away  ; 
Young  blood  must  have  its  course,  laa* 
And  every  doe"  his  day. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR    A   LAND-BABY. 


When  all  the  zvorld  is  old,  lad, 
And  all  the  trees  are  brown  ; 

And  all  the  sport  is  stale,  lad, 
And,  all  the  zvheels  run  down ; 

Creep  liome,  and  take  your  place  theret 
The  spent  and  maimed  among: 

God  grant  yon  find  one  face  there, 
You  loved  when  all  zuas  young. 


*Those  are  the  words  :  but  they  are  only  the  body  Oi 
it :  the  soul  of  the  song  was  the  dear  old  woman's  sweet 
face,  and  sweet  voice,  and  the  sweet  old  air  to  which  she 
sang  ;  and  that,  alas  !  one  cannot  put  on  paper.     And  at 
last  she  grew  so  stiff  and  lame,   that  the   angels  were 


68 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


forced  to  carry  her  ;  and  they  helped  her  on  with  her 
wedding-dress,  and  carried  her  up  over  Harthover  Fells, 
and  a  long  way  beyond  that,  too  ;  and  there  was  a  new 
schoolmistress  in  Vendale,  and  we  will  hope  that  she 
was  not  certificated. 

And  all  the  while  Tom  was  swimming  about  in  the 
river,  with  a  pretty  little  lace-collar  of  gills  about  his 
neck,  as  lively  as  a  grig,  and  as  clean  as  a  fresh-run 
salmon. 

Now  if  you  don't  like  my  story,  then  go  to  the  school- 
room and  learn  your  multiplication-table,  and  see  if  you 
like  that  better.  Some  people,  no  doubt,  would  do  so. 
So  much  the  better  for  us,  if  not  for  them.  It  takes  all 
sorts,  they  say,  to  make  a  world. 


"He  prayeth  well  who  loveth  well 
Both  men  and  bird  and  beast ; 
He  prayeth  best  w'lo  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small : 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 


Coleridge. 


CHAPTER  III. 


(a 


OM  was  now  quite  amphibious* 
You  do  not  know  what  that 
means  ?  You  had  better,  then, 
ask  the  nearest  Govern- 
ment pupil-teacher,  who 
may  possibly  answer  you 
smartly  enough,  thus — ■ 
"Amphibious.  Adjective, 
derived  from  two  Greek 
words,  amphi,  a  fish,  and  bios, 
a  beast.  An  animal  supposed 
by  our  ignorant  ancestors  to 
be  compounded  of  a  fish  and 
a  beast ;  which,  like  the  hip- 
popotamus, can't  live  on  the 
land,  and  dies  in  the  water.5 ' 
However  that  may  be,  Tom  was  amphibious  :  and 
what  is  better  still,  he  was  clean.  For  the  first  time  in 
his  life,  he  felt  how  comfortable  it  was  to  have  nothing 
on  him  but  himself.  But  he  only  enjoyed  it :  he  did  not 
know  it,  or  think  about  it  ;  just  as  you  enjoy  life  and 
health,    and    yet   never  think   about    being   alive  and 

C6q> 


70  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

healthy  ;  and  may  it  be  long  before  you  have  to  think 
about  it! 

He  did  not  remember  having  ever  been  dirty.  In- 
deed, he  did  not  remember  any  of  his  old  troubles,  being 
tired,  or  hungry,  or  beaten,  or  sent  up  dark  chimneys. 
Since  that  sweet  sleep,  he  had  forgotten  all  about  his 
master,  and  Harthover  Place,  and  the  little  white  girl, 
and,  in  a  word,  all  that  had  happened  to  him  when  he 
lived  before  ;  and,  what  was  best  of  all,  he  had  forgotten 
all  the  bad  words  which  he  had  learned  from  Grimes, 
and  the  rude  boys  with  whom  he  used  to  play. 

That  is  not  strange  :  for  you  know,  when  you  cama 
into  this  world,  and  became  a  land-baby,  you  remem- 
bered nothing.  So  why  should  he  when  he  became  a 
water-baby  ? 

Then  have  you  lived  before? 

My  dear  child,  who  can  tell  ?  One  can  only  tell  that 
by  remembering  something  which  happened  where  we 
lived  before  ;  and  as  we  remember  nothing,  we  know 
nothing  about  it ;  and  no  book,  and  no  man,  can  ever 
tell  us  certainly. 

There  was  a  wise  man  once,  a  very  wTise  man,  and 
a  very  good  man,  who  wrote  a  poem  about  the  feelings 
which  some  children  have  about  having  lived  before ; 
and  this  is  what  he  said — 

"Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting ; 
The  sonl  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  elsezvhere  had  its  setting, 

And  cometh  from  afar: 
Not  in  entire  forge tfulness, 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory,  do  we  corns 
From  God,  who  is  our  home" 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY,  7 1 

There,  you  can  know  no  more  than  that.  But  if  I  was 
you,  I  would  believe  that.  For  then  the  great  fairy 
Science,  who  is  likely  to  be  queen  of  all  the  fairies  for 
many  a  year  to  come,  can  only  do  you  good,  and  never 
do  you  harm  ;  and  instead  of  fancying,  with  some 
people,  that  your  body  makes  your  soul,  as  if  a  steam* 
engine  could  make  its  own  coke  ;  or,  with  some  people, 
that  your  soul  has  nothing  to  do  with  your  body,  but 
is  only  stuck  into  it  like  a  pin  into  a  pincushion,  to 
fall  out  with  the  first  shake  ; — -you  will  believe  the  one 
true, 

orthodox,  inductive, 

rational,  deductive, 

philosophical,  seductive, 

logical,  productive, 

irrefragable,  salutary, 

nomiualistic,  comfortable, 

realistic, 

and  on-all-accounts-to-be-received 

doctrine  of  this  wonderful  fairy  tale  ;  which  is,  that  your 
soul  makes  your  body,  just  as  a  snail  makes  his  shell. 
For  the  rest,  it  is  enough  for  us  to  be  sure  that  whether 
or  not  we  lived  before,  we  shall  live  again  ;  though  not, 
I  hope,  as  poor  little  heathen  Tom  did.  For  he  went 
downward  into  the  water  :  but  we,  I  hope,  shall  go  up- 
ward to  a  very  different  place. 

But  Tom  was  very  happy  in  the  water.  He  had  been 
sadly  overworked  in  the  land-world  ;  and  so  now,  to 
make  up  for  that,  he  had  nothing  but  holidays  in  the 
water-world  for  a  long,  long  time  to  come.  He  had 
nothing  to  do  now  but  enjoy  himself,  and  look  at  all  the 
pretty  things  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  cool  clear 
water-world,  where  the  sun  is  never  too  hot,  and  the 
frost  is  never  too  cold. 


72 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


And  what  did  he  live  on  ?  Water-cresses,  perhaps  ; 
or  perhaps  water-gruel,  and  water-milk  ;  too  many  land- 
babies  do  so 
likewise.  But 
we  do  not  know 
what  one-tenth 
of  the  water- 
things  eat  ;  so 
we  are  not  an- 
swerable for  the 
water-babies. 

Sometimes  he 
went  along  the 
smooth  gravel 
water-ways, 
looking  at  the 
crickets  which 
ran  in  and  out 
among  the 
stones,  as  rab- 
bits do  on  land ; 
or  he  climbed 
over  the  ledges 
of  rock,  and  saw 
the  sand-pipes 
ha  n  ging  in 
thousands,  with 
every  one  of 
them  a  pretty 
little  head  and 
legs  peeping 
out ;  or  he  went  into  a  still  corner,  and  watched  the 
caddises  eating  dead-sticks  as  greedily  as  you  would  eat 
plum-pudding,  and  building  their  houses  with  silk  and 


I  1  T 


t>  -Water-Babies 


in) 


74 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


glue.  Very  fanciful  ladies  they  were  ;  none  of  them 
would  keep  to  the  same  materials  for  a  day.  One  would 
begin  with  some  pebbles  ;  then  she  would  stick  on  a 
piece  of  green  wood  ;  then  she  found  a  shell,  and  stuck 
it  on,  too  ;  and  the  poor  shell  was  alive,  and  did  not  like 
at  all  being  taken  to  build  houses  with  :  but  the  caddis 
did  not  let  him  have  any  voice  in  the  matter,  bein^  rude 
and  selfish,  as  vain  people  are  apt  to  be  ; 
then  she  stuck  on  a  piece  of  rotten  wood, 
then  a  very  smart  pink  stone,  and  so  on, 
till  she  was  patched  all  over  like  an  Irish- 
man's coat.  Then  she  found  a  long 
straw,  five  times  as  long  as  herself,  and 
said,  " Hurrah,  my  sister  has  a  tail,  and  I'll 
have  one,  too  ; "  and  she  stuck  it  on  her 
back,  and  inarched  about  with  it  quite 
proud,  though  it  was  very  inconvenient, 
indeed.  And,  at  that,  tails  became  an 
the  fashion  among  the  caddis-baits  in 
that  pool,  as  they  were  at  the  end  of  the 
Long  Pond  last  May,  and  they  all  toddled 
about  with  long  straws  sticking  out  be- 
hind, getting  between  each  other's  le^s, 
and  tumbling  over  each  other,  and  look- 
ing so  ridiculous  that  Tom  laughed  at 
them  till  he  cried,  as  we  did.  But  they 
Wvre  quite  right,  you  know  ;  for  people  must  always 
follow  the  fashion,  even  if  it  be  spoon-bonnets. 

Then  sometimes  he  came  to  a  deep  still  reach  ;  and 
there  he  saw  the  water-forests.  They  would  have  looked 
to  you  only  little  weeds  ;  but  Tom,  you  must  remember, 
was  so  little  that  everything  looked  a  hundred  times  as 
big  to  him  as  it  does  to  you,  just  as  things  do  to  a 
minnow,  who  sees  and  catches  the  little  water-creatures 
which  you  can  only  see  in  a  microscope. 


A   FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  75 

And  in  the  water- forest  he  saw  the  water-monkeys 
and  water-squirrels  (they  had  all  six  legs,  though  ; 
everything  almost  has  six  legs  in  the  water,  except  efts 
and  water-babies)  ;  and  nimbly  enough  they  ran  among 
the  branches.  There  were  water-flowers  there,  too,  in 
thousands  ;  and  Tom  tried  to  pick  them  :  but  as  soon  as 
he  touched  them,  they  drew  themselves  in  and  turned 
into  knots  of  jelly  ;  and  then  Tom  saw  that  they  were 
all  alive — bells,  and  stars,  and  wheels,  and  flowers,  of 
all  beautiful  shapes  and  colors  ;  and  all  alive  and  busy, 
just  as  Tom  was.  So  now  he  found  that  there  was  a 
great  deal  more  in  the  world  than  he  had  fancied  at  first 
sight. 

There  was  one  wonderful  little  fellow,  too,  who  peeped 
out  of  the  top  of  a  house  built  of  round  bricks.  He  had 
two  big  wheels,  and  one  little  one,  all  over  teeth,  spin* 
nino;  round  and  round  like  the  wheels  in  a  thrashing- 
machine  ;  and  Tom  stood  and  stared  at  him,  to  see  what 
he  was  going  to  make  with  his  machinery.  And  what 
do  you  think  he  was  doing?  Brick-making.  With  his 
two  big  wheels  he  swept  together  all  the  mud  which 
floated  in  the  water  :  all  that  was  nice  in  it  he  put  into 
his  stomach  and  ate  ;  and  all  the  mud  he  put  into  the 
little  wheel  on  his  breast,  which  really  was  a  round  hole 
set  with  teeth  ;  and  there  he  spun  it  into  a  neat  hard 
round  brick  ;  and  then  he  took  it  and  stuck  it  on  the  top 
of  his  house-wall,  and  set  to  work  to  make  another. 
Now  was  not  he  a  clever  little  fellow  ? 

Tom  thought  so  :  but  when  he  wanted  to  talk  to  him 
the  brick-maker  was  much  too  busy  and  proud  of  his 
work  to  take  notice  of  him. 

Now  you  must  know  that  all  the  things  under  the 
■water  talk  ;  only  not  such  a  language  as  ours  ;  but 
such  as  horses ,  and  dogs,  and  cows,  and  birds  talk  to 


76  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

each  other ;  and  Tom  soon  learned  to  understand  them 
and  talk  to  them  ;  so  that  he  might  have  had  very 
pleasant  company  if  he  had  only  been  a  good  boy.  rmt 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  he  was  too  like  some  other  intle 
boys,  very  fond  of  hunting  and  tormenting  creatt/es 
for  mere  sport.  Some  people  say  that  boys  cannot  t  clp 
it ;  that  it  is  nature,  and  only  a  proof  that  we  are  all 
originally  descended  from  beasts  of  prey.  But  whether 
it  is  nature  or  not,  little  boys  can  help  it,  and  must 
help  it.  For  if  they  have  naughty,  low,  mischievous 
tricks  in  their  nature,  as  monkeys  have,  that  )s  no 
reason  why  they  should  give  way  to  those  tricks  like 
monkeys,  who  know  no  better.  And  therefore  they 
must  not  torment  dumb  creatures  ;  for  if  they  do,  a 
certain  old  lady  who  is  coming  will  surely  give  them 
exactly  what  they  deserve. 

But  Tom  did  not  know  that ;  and  he  pecked  and 
howked  the  poor  water-things  about  sadly,  till  they 
were  all  afraid  of  him,  and  got  out  of  his  way,  or 
crept  into  their  shells  ;  so  he  had  no  one  to  speak  to  or 
play  with. 

The  water-fairies,  of  course,  were  very  sorry  to  see 
him  so  unhappy,  and  longed  to  take  him,  and  tell  him 
how  naughty  he  was,  and  teach  him  to  be  good,  and  to 
play  and  romp  with  him  too :  but  they  had  been  forbid- 
den to  do  that.  Tom  had  to  learn  his  lesson  for  him- 
self by  sound  and  sharp  experience,  as  many  another 
foolish  person  has  to  do,  though  there  may  be  many 
a  kind  heart  yearning  over  them  all  the  while,  and 
longing  to  teach  them  what  they  can  only  teach  them- 
selves. 

At  last  one  day  he  found  a  caddis,  and  wanted  it  to 
peep  out  of  its  house  :  but  its  house-door  was  shut.  He 
had  never  seen  a  caddis  with  a  house-door  before  :  so 


A   fAlRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


77 


what  must  he  do,  the  meddlesome  little  fellow,  but  pull 
it  open,  to  see  what  the  poor  lady  was  doing  inside. 
What  a  shame  !  How  should  you  like  to  have  any  one 
breaking  your  bedroom  door  in,  to  see  how  you  looked 
when  you  were  in  bed  ?  So  Tom  broke  to  pieces  the 
door,  which  was  the  prettiest  little  grating  of  silk, 
stuck  all  over  with  shining  bits  of  crystal  ;  and  when  he 


looked  in,  the  caddis  poked  out  her  head,  and  it  "had 
turned  into  just  the  shape  of  a  bird's.  But  when  Tom 
spoke  to  her  she  could  not  answer  ;  for  her  mouth  and 
face  were  tight  tied  up  in  a  new  night-cap  of  neat  pink 
skin.  However,  if  she  didn't  answer,  all  the  other  cad- 
dises did  ;  for  they  held  up  their  hands  and  shrieked 
like  the  cats  in  Struwelpeter  :  "  Oh,  you-  nasty,  horrid 
boy  ;  there  you  are  at  it  again!     And  she  had  just  laid 


78  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

herself  up  for  a  fortnights  sleepy  and  then  she  would 
have  come  out  with  such  beautiful  zvings,  and  flown 
about,  and  laid  sucJi  lots  of  eggs :  and  now  you  have 
broken  her  door,  and  she  can '  t  mend  it  because  lier  mouth 
is  tied  tip  for  a  fortnight,  and  she  will  die.  Who  sent 
you  here  to  worry  us  out  of  our  lives  ? ' ' 

So  Tom  swam  away.  He  was  very  much  ashamed 
of  himself,  and  felt  all  the  naughtier;  as  little  boys  do 
when  they  have  done  wrong  and  won't  say  so. 

Then  he  came  to  a  pool  full  of  little  trout,  and  began 
tormenting  them,  and  trying  to  catch  them  :  but  they 
slipped  through  his  fingers,  and  jumped  clean  out  of 
water  in  their  fright.  But  as  Tom  chased  them,  he 
came  close  to  a  great  dark  hover  under  an  alder  root, 
and  out  floushed  a  huo-e  old  brown  trout  ten  times  as 
big  as  he  was,  and  ran  right  against  him,  and  knocked 
all  the  breath  out  of  his  body  ;  and  I  don't  know  which 
was  the  more  frightened  of  the  two. 

Then  he  went  on  sulky  and  lonely,  as  he  deserved 
to  be  ;  and  under  a  bank  he  saw  a  very  ugly,  dirty 
creature  sitting,  about  half  as  big  as  himself  ;  which 
had  six  legs,  and  a  big  stomach,  and  a  most  ridiculous 
head  with  two  great  eyes  and  a  face  just  like  a  don- 
key's. 

"Oh,"  said  Tom,  "you  are  an  ugly  fellow  to  be 
sure!"  and  he  began  making  faces  at  him;  and  put 
his  nose  close  to  him,  and  hallooed  at  him,  like  a  very 
rude  boy. 

When,  hey  presto  ;  all  the  thing's  donkey-face  came 
off  in  a  moment,  and  out  popped  a  long  arm  with  a 
pair  of  pincers  at  the  end  of  it,  and  caught  Tom  by  the 
nose.  It  did  not  hurt  him  much  ;  but  it  held  him  quite 
tisrht. 

l7ah,  ah  !     Oh,  let  me  go  1  "  cried  Tom. 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  79 

"Then  let  me  go,"  said  +h.e  creature.  "I  want  to 
be  quiet.     I  want  to  split." 

Tom  promised  to  let  him  alone,  and  he  let  go. 
"  Why  do  you  want  to  split?  "  said  Tom. 

wt  Because  my  brothers  and  sisters  have  all  split,  and 
turned  into  beautiful  creatures  with  wings  ;  and  I  want 
to  split  too.  Don't  speak  to  me.  I  am  sure  I  shall 
split.     I  will  split  !  " 

Tom  stood  still,  and  watched  him.  And  he  swelled 
himself,  and  puffed,  and  stretched  himself  out  stiff,  and 
at  last— crack,  puff,  bang — he  opened  all  dcwn  his  back, 
and  then  up  to  the  top  of  his  head. 

And  out  of  his  inside  came  the  most  slender,  elegant, 
soft  creature,  as  soft  and  smooth  as  Tom  :  but  very  pale 
and  weak,  like  a  little  child  who  has  been  ill  a  loug  time 
in  a  dark  room.  It  moved  its  legs  very  feebly  ;  and 
looked  about  it  half  ashamed,  like  a  girl  when  she  goes 
for  the  first  time  into  a  ballroom  ;  and  then  it  began 
walking  slowly  up  a  grass  stem  to  the  top  of  the 
water. 

Tom  was  so  astonished  that  he  never  said  a  word  : 
but  he  stared  with  all  his  eyes.  And  he  went  up  to  the 
top  of  the  water,  too,  and  peeped  out  to  see  what  would 
happen. 

And  as  the  creature  sat  in  the  warm  bright  sun,  a 
wonderful  change  came  over  it.  It  grew  strong  and 
firm  ;  the  most  lovely  colors  began  to  show  on  its  body, 
blue  and  yellow  and  black,  spots  and  bars  and  rings  ; 
out  of  its  back  rose  four  great  wings  of  bright  brown 
gauze  ;  and  its  eyes  grew  so  large  that  they  filled  all  it* 
head,  and  shone  like  ten  thousand  diamonds. 

"  Oh,  you  beautiful  creature!"  said  Tom;  and  h, 
put  out  his  hand  to  catch  it. 

But   the  thing  whirred   up   into   the  air,  and  hucj 


80  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

poised  on  its  wings  a  moment,  and  then  settled  down 
again  by  Tom,  quite  fearless. 

"No!"  it  said,  "you  cannot  catch  me.  I  am  a 
dragon-fly  now,  the  king  of  all  the  flies  ;  and  I  shall  dance 
in  the  sunshine,  and  hawk  over  the  river,  and  catch 
gnats,  and  have  a  beautiful  wife  like  myself.  I  knc 
what  I  shall  do.  Hurrah  !  "  And  he  flew  away  into  thL 
air,  and  began  catching  gnats. 

"Oh!  come  back,  come  back,"  cried  Tom,  "you 
beautiful  creature.  I  have  no  one  to  play  with,  and  I 
am  so  lonely  here.  If  you  will  but  come  back  I  will 
never  try  to  catch  you." 

"I  don't  care  whether  you  do  or  not,"  said  the 
dragon-fly  ;  "for  you  can't.  But  when  I  have  had  my 
dinner,  and  looked  a  little  about  this  pretty  place,  I  wrill 
come  back,  and  have  a  little  chat  about  all  I  have  seen 
in  my  travels.  Why,  what  a  huge  tree  this  is  !  and  what 
huge  leaves  on  it  ! " 

It  was  only  a  big  dock ;  but  you  know  the  dragon-fly 
had  never  seen  any  but  little  water- trees  ;  starwort,  and 
milfoil,  and  water-crowfoot,  and  such  like  ;  so  it  did  look 
very  big  to  him.  Besides,  he  was  verv  short-sighted,  as 
all  dragon-flies  are  ;  and  never  could'see  a  yard  before 
his  nose ;  any  more  than  a  great  many  other  folks,  who 
are  not  half  as  handsome  as  he. 

The  dragon-fly  did  come  back,  and  chatted  away  wTith 
Tom.  He  was  a  little  conceited  about  his  fine  colors 
and  his  large  wings  ;  but,  you  know,  he  had  been  a 
poor  dirty  ugly  creature  all  his  life  before ;  so  there  were 
great  excuses  for  him.  He  was  very  fond  of  talking 
about  all  the  wonderful  things  he  saw  in  the  trees  and 
the  meadows ;  and  Tom  liked  to  listen  to  him,  for  he  had 
forgotten  all  about  them.  So  in  a  little  while  they 
became  great  friends. 


(8i) 


82  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

And  I  am  very  glad  to  say  that  Tom  learned  such  a 
lesson  that  day  that  he  did  not  torment  creatures  for  a 
long  time  after.  And  then  the  caddises  grew  quite  tame, 
ana  uoct  ^  fell  him  strange  stories  about  the  way  they 
built  their  houses,  and  changed  their  skins,  and  turned 
at  last  into  winded  flies ;  till  Tom  be^an  to  long  to 
change  his  skin,  and  have  wings  like  them  some  day. 

And  the  trout  and  he  made  it  up  (for  trout  very  soon 
forget  if  they  have  been  frightened  and  hurt).  So  Tom 
used  to  play  with  .them  at  hare  and  hounds,  and  great 
fun  they  had  ;  and  he  used  to  try  to  leap  out  of  the 
water,  head  over  heels,  as  they  did  before  a  shower 
came  on  ;  but  somehow  he  never  could  manage  it.  He 
liked  most,  though,  to  see  them  rising  at  the  flies,  as 
they  sailed  round  and  round  under  the  shadow  of  the 
great  oak,  where  the  beetles  fell  flop  into  the  water, 
and  the  green  caterpillars  let  themselves  down  from  the 
boughs  by  silk  ropes  for  no  reason  at  all  ;  and  then 
changed  their  foolish  minds  for  no  reason  at  all  either  ; 
and  hauled  themselves  up  again  into  the  tree,  rolling  up  the 
rope  in  a  ball  between  their  paws  ;  which  is  a  very  clever 
rope-dancer's  trick,  and  neither  Blondin  nor  Leotari. 
could  do  it  :  but  why  they  should  take  so  much  trouble 
about  it  no  one  can  tell  ;  for  they  cannot  get  their  living, 
as  Blondin  and  Leotard  do,  by  trying  to  break  their 
necks  on  a  string. 

And  very  often  Tom  caught  them  just  as  they  touched 
the  water  ;  and  caught  the  alder-flies,  and  the  caperers, 
and  the  cock-tailed  duns  and  spinners,  yellow,  and 
brown,  and  claret,  and  gray,  and  gave  them  to  his 
friends  the  trout.  Perhaps  he  was  not  quite  kind  to  the 
flies  ;  but  one  must  do  a  good  turn  to  one's  friends  when 
one  can. 

And  at  last  he  gave  up  catching  even  the  flies  ;  for  he 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


83 


made  acqaintance  with  one  by  accident  and  found  him  a 

very  merry  little  fellow.      And  this  was  the  way  it  hap- 
pened ;  and  it  is  all  quite  true. 

He  was  basking  at  the  top  of  the  water  one  hot  day  in 

July,     catching      duns 

and  feeding  the  trout, 

when    he    saw   a    new 

sort,  a  dark  grav  little 

fellow    with    a    brown 

head.      He  was  a  very 

little     fellow,    indeed  : 

but  he  made  the  most 

of  himself,    as    people 

ought    to    do.       He 

cocked    up    his   head, 

and  he  cocked  up  his 

wings,   and  he  cocked 

up    his    tail,    -and    he 

cocked    up     the     two 

whisks  at  his  tail-end, 

and,  in  short,  he  looked 

the  cockiest  little  man 

of  all  little  men.     And 

so   he    proved    to   be  ; 

for,  instead  of  getting 

away,  he  hopped  upon 

Tom's  finger,   and  sat 

there  as  bold    as   nine 

tailors ;    and   he   cried 

out  in  the  tiniest,  shrillest,  squeakiest  little  voice  you 

ever  heard  : 

"Much  obliged  to  you, indeed;  but  I  don't  want  it  y^t." 
"Want  what?"  said  Tom,  quite  taken  aback  bf  hi* 

impudence. 


84  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

"Your  leg,  which  you  are  kind  enough  to  hold  out 
for  me  to  sit  on.  I  must  just  go  and  see  after  my  wife 
for  a  few  minutes.  Dear  me  !  what  a  troublesome  busi^ 
ness  a  falnily  is!"  (though  the  idle  little  rogue  did 
nothing  at  all,  but  left  his  poor  wife  to  lay  all  the  eggs 
by  herself).  "  When  I  come  back,  I  shall  be  glad  of  it, 
if  you'll  be  so  good  as  to  keep  it  sticking  out  just  so  ! " 
and  off  he  flew. 

Tom  thought  him  a  very  cool  sort  of  personage  ;  and 
still  more  so  when,  in  five  minutes,  he  came  back,  and 
said — "Ah,  you  were  tired  waiting?  Well,  your  other 
leg  will  do  as  well." 

And  he  popped  himself  down  on  Tom's  knee,  and 
began  chatting  away  in  his  squeaking  voice. 

"So  you  live  under  the  water?  It's  a  low  place.  I 
lived  there  for  some  time  ;  and  was  very  shabby  and 
dirty.  But  I  didn't  choose  that  that  should  last.  So  I 
turned  respectable,  and  came  up  to  the  top,  and  put  on 
this  gray  suit.  It's  a  very  business-like  suit,  you  think, 
don't  you  ?" 

"Very  neat  and  quiet  indeed,"  said  Tom. 

"Yes,  one  must  be  quiet  and  neat  and  respectable, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing  for  a  little,  when  one  becomes 
a  family  man.  But  I'm  tired  of  it,  that's  the  truth. 
I've  done  quite  enough  business,  I  consider,  in  the  last 
week,  to  last  me  my  life.  So  I  shall  put  on  a  ball  dress, 
and  go  out  and  be  a  smart  man,  and  see  the  gay  world, 
and  have  a  dance  or  two.  Why  shouldn't  one  be  jolly 
if  one  can  ?  " 

"And  what  will  become  of  your  wife?  " 

"Oh  !  she  is  a  very  plain,  stupid  creature,  and  that's 
the  truth  ;  and  thinks  about  nothing  but  eggs.  If  she 
chooses  to  come,  why  she  may  ;  and  if  not,  why  I  go 
w;':hout  her  ; — and  here  I  go." 


A    *MIRY  TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  85 

And,  as  he  spoke,  he  turned  quite  pale,  and  then 
quite  whites. 

"Why,  you're  ill!"  said  Tom.  But  he  did  not  an- 
swer. 

"  You're  dead,"  said  Tom,  looking  at  him  as  he  stood 
on  his  knee,  as  white  as  a  ghost. 

"  No,  I  ain't  !  "  answered  a  little  squeaking  voice  over 
his  head.  u  This  is  me  up  here,  in  my  ball-dress  ;  and 
that's  my  skin.  Ha,  ha  !  you  could  not  do  such  a  trick 
as  that !" 

And  no  more  Tom  could,  nor  Houdin,  nor  Robin, 
nor  Frikell,  nor  all  the  conjurors  in  the  world.  For 
the  little  rogue  had  jumped  clean  out  of  his  own  skin, 
and  left  it  standing  on  Tom's  knee,  eyes,  wings,  legs, 
tail,  exactly  as  if  it  had  been  alive. 

"Ha,  ha!"  he  said,  and  he  jerked  and  skipped  up 
and  down,  never  stopping  an  instant,  just  as  if  he  had 
St.  Vitus'  dance.      "Ain't  I  a  pretty  fellow  now?" 

And  so  he  was  ;  for  his  body  was  white,  and  his  tail 
orange,  and  his  eyes  all  the  colors  of  a  peacock's  tail. 
And  what  was  the  oddest  of  all,  the  whisks  at  the  end 
of  his  tail  had  grown  five  times  as  long  as  they  were 
before. 

"Ah  !  "  said  he,  "  now  I  will  see  the  gay  world.  My 
living  won't  cost  me  much,  for  I  have  no  mouth,  you 
see,  and  no  inside  ;  so  I  can  never  be  hungry  nor  have 
the  stomach-ache  neither." 

No  more  he  had.  He  had  grown  as  dry  and  hard 
and  empty  as  a  quill,  as  such  silly,  shallow-hearted  fel- 
lows deserve  to  orrow. 

But,  instead  of  being  ashamed  of  his  emptiness,  he 
was  quite  proud  of  it,  as  a  good  many  fine  gentlemen 
are,  and  began  flirting  and  flipping  up  and  down,  and 
singing — 


86  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

"My  wife  shall  dance  and  I  shall  sing, 
So  merrily  pass  the  day  ; 
For  I  hold  it  for  quite  the  wisest  thing 
To  drive  dull  care  away" 

And  he  danced  up  and  down  for  three  days  and  three 
eights,  till  he  grew  so  tired,  that  he  tumbled  into  the 
water,  and  floated  down.  But  what  became  of  him  Tom 
/lever  knew,  and  he  himself  never  minded  ;  for  Tom 
heard  him  singing  to  the  last,  as  he  floated  down — 

"  To  drive  didl  care  azv ay-ay-ay  /  " 

And  if  he  did  not  care,  why  nobody  else  cared, 
either. 

But  one  day  Tom  had  a  new  adventure.  He  was  sit- 
ting on  a  water-lily  leaf,  he  and  his  friend  the  dragon- 
fly, watching  the  gnats  dance.  The  dragon-fly  had 
eaten  as  many  as  he  wanted,  and  was  sitting  quite  still 
and  sleepy,  for  it  was  very  hot  and  bright.  The  gnats, 
(who  did  not  care  the  least  for  their  poor  brothers1 
death)  danced  a  foot  .over  his  head  quite  happily,  and  a 
large  black  fly  settled  within  an  inch  of  his  nose,  and 
be^an  washing  his  own  face  and  combing  his  hair  with 
his  paws  ;  but  the  dragon-fly  never  stirred,  and  kept  on 
chatting  to  Tom  about  the  times  when  he  lived  under 
the  water. 

Suddenly,  Tom  heard  the  strangest  noise  up  the 
stream  ;  cooing,  and  grunting,  and  whining,  and 
squeaking,  as  if  you  had  put  into  a  bag  two  stock- 
doves, nine  mice,  three  guinea-pigs,  and  a  blind  puppy, 
and  left  them  there  to  settle  themselves  and  make 
music. 

He  looked  up  the  water,  and  there  he  saw  a  sight  as 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  87 

strange  as  the  noise  ;  a  great  ball  rolling  over  and  over 
down  the  stream,  seeming  one  moment  of  soft  brown 
fur,  and  the  next  of  shining  glass  :  and  yet  it  was  not  a 
ball  ;  for  sometimes  it  broke  up  and  streamed  away  in 
pieces,  and  then  it  joined  again  ;  and  all  the  while  the 
noise  came  out  of  it  louder  and  louder. 

Tom  asked  the  dragon-fly  what  it  could  be  :  but,  of 
course,  with  his  short  sight,  he  could  not  even  see  it, 
though  it  was  not  ten  yards  away.  So  he  took  the 
neatest  little  header  into  the  water,  and  started  off  to  see 
for  himself;  and,  when  he  came  near,  the  ball  turned 
out  to  be  four  or  five  beautiful  creatures,  many  times 
larger  than  Tom,  who  were  swimming  about,  and 
rolling,  and  diving,  and  twisting,  and  wrestling,  and 
cuddling,  and  kissing,  and  biting,  and  scratching,  in 
the  most  charming  fashion  that  ever  was  seen.  And  if 
vou  don't  believe  me,  vou  mav  00  to  the  Zoological 
Gardens  (for  I  am  afraid  that  you  won't  see  it  nearer, 
unless,  perhaps,  yon  get  up  at  five  in  the  morning,  and 
go  down  to  Cordery's  Moor,  and  watch  by  the  great 
withy  pollard  which  hangs  over  the  backwater,  where 
the  otters  breed  sometimes),  and  then  say,  if  otters  at 
play  in  the  water  are  not  the  merriest,  lithest,  grace- 
fullest  creatures  you  ever  saw. 

But,  when  the  biggest  of  them  saw  Tom,  she  darted 
out  from  the  rest,  and  cried  in  the  water-language, 
sharply  enough,  "Quick,  children,  here  is  something  to 
eat,  indeed  !"  and  came  at  poor  Tom,  showing  such  a 
wicked  pair  of  eyes,  and  such  a  set  of  sharp  teeth  in  a 
grinning  mouth,  that  Tom,  who  had  thought  her  very 
handsome,  said  to  himself,  Handsome  is  that  handsome 
does,  and  slipped  in  between  the  water-lily  roots  as  fast 
as  he  could,  and  then  turned  round  and  made  faces  at 
her. 


88  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

"  Come  out,"  said  the  wicked  old  otter,  "  or  it  will  be 
worse  for  you. ' ' 

But  Tom  looked  at  her  from  between  two  thick  roots, 
and  shook  them  with  all  his  might,  making  horrible 
faces  all  the  while,  just  as  he  used  to  grin  through  the 
railings  at  the  old  women,  when  he  lived  before.  It  was 
not  quite  well  bred,  no  doubt ;  but,  you  know,  Tom  had 
not  finished  his  education  yet. 

"Come  away,  children,"  said  the  otter  in  disgust, 
"it  is  not  worth  eating,  after  all.  It  is  only  a  nasty 
eft,  which  nothing  eats,  not  even  those  vulgar  pike  in 
the  pond." 

u  I  am  not  an  eft,"  said  Tom  ;  "  efts  have  tails." 

"  You  are  an  eft,"  said  the  otter,  very  positively  ;  "  I 
see  your  two  hands  quite  plain,  and  I  know  you  have  a 
tail." 

"  I  tell  you  I  have  not,"  said  Tom.  "  Look  here  !  " 
and  he  turned  his  pretty  little  self  quite  round  ;  and, 
sure  enough,  he  had  no  more  tail  than  you. 

The  otter  might  have  got  out  of  it  by  saying  that  Tom 
was  a  frog  :  but,  like  a  great  many  other  people,  when 
she  had  once  said  a  thing,  she  stood  to  it,  right  or 
wrong  ;  so  she  answered  : 

"  I  say  you  are  an  eft,  and  therefore  you  are,  and  not 
fit  food  for  gentlefolk  like  me  and  my  children.  You 
may  stay  there  till  the  salmon  eat  you  (she  knew  the 
salmon  would  not,  but  she  wanted  to  frighten  poor  Tom). 
Ha  !  ha  !  they  will  eat  you,  and  we  will  eat  them  ;  "  and 
the  otter  laughed  such  a  wicked  cruel  lau^h — as  vou 
may  hear  them  do  sometimes  ;  and  the  first  time  that 
you  hear  it  you  will  probably  think  it  is  bogies. 

"  What  are  salmon  ?  "  asked  Tom. 

"  Fish,  you  eft,  great  fish,  nice  fish  to  eat.  They  are 
the  lords  of  the  fish,  and  we  are  lords  of  tne  salmon  ;" 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY 


S9 


and  she  laughed  again.  "  We  hunt  them  up  and  down 
the  pools,  and  drive  them  up  into  a  corner,  the  silly 
tilings  ;  they  are  so  proud,  and  bully  the  little  trout,  and 
the  minnows,  till  they  see  us  coming,  and  then  they  are 
so  meek  all  at  once  ;  and  we  catch  them,  but  we  disdain 
to  eat  them  all  ;  we  just  bite  out  their  soft  throats  and 
suck  their  sweet  juice — Oh,  so  good  !  " — (and  she  licked 
her  wicked  lips) — "and  then  throw  them  away,  and  go 
and  catch  ~^= 

another. 
They  are 
coming  soon, 
ch  il  d  r  en  ; 
coming  soon; 
I  can  smell 
the  rain  com- 
ing up  off  the 
sea,  and  then 
hurrah  for  a 
fresh,  and 
salmon,  and  ^iSBlfl 
plenty  of  eat- 
ing all  day 
long." 

And     the 

otter  grew  so  proud  that  she  turned  head  over  heels 
twice,  and  then  stood  upright  half  out  of  the  water,  grin- 
ning like  a  Cheshire  cat. 

"And  where  do  they  come  from?"  asked  Tom,  who 
kept  himself  very  close,  for  he  was  considerably  fright- 
ened. 

"  Out  of  the  sea,  eft,  the  great  wide  sea,  where  they 
might  stay  and  be  safe  if  they  liked.  But  out  of  the  sea 
the  silly  things  come,  into  the  great  river  down  below; 

7 — Wa.tr y  Babies 


90  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

and  we  come  up  to  watch  for  them  :  and  when  they  go 
down  again  we  go  down  and  follow  them.  And  there 
we  fish  for  the  bass  and  the  pollock,  and  have  jolly  days 
along  the  shore,  and  toss  and  roll  in  the  breakers,  and 
sleep  snug  in  the  warm  dry  crags.  Ah,  that  is  a 
merry  life,  too,  children,  if  it  were  not  for  those  horrid 
men." 

"What  are  men  ? "  asked  Tom;  but  somehow  he 
seemed  to  know  before  he  asked. 

u  Two-legged  things,  eft  :  and,  now  I  come  to  look 
at  you,  they  are  actually  something  like  you,  if  you  had 
not  a  tail"  (she  was  determined  that  Tom  should  have 
a  tail),  "only  a  great  deal  bigger,  worse  luck  for  us; 
and  they  catch  the  fish  with  hooks  and  lines,  which  get 
into  our  feet  sometimes,  and  set  pots  along  the  rocks  to 
catch  lobsters.  They  speared  my  poor  dear  husband  as 
he  went  out  to  find  something  for  me  to  eat.  I  was  laid 
up  among  the  crags  then,  and  we  were  very  low  in  the 
world,  for  the  sea  wTas  so  rough  that  no  fish  would  come 
in  shore.  But  they  speared  him,  poor  fellow7,  and  I  saw 
them  carrying  him  away  upon  a  pole.  Ah,  he  lost  his 
life  for  your  sakes,  my  children,  poor  dear  obedient 
creature  that  he  was." 

And  the  otter  grew7  so  sentimental  (for  otters  can  be  very 
sentimental  when  they  choose,  like  a  good  many  people 
who  are  both  cruel  and  greedy,  and  no  good  to  anybody 
at  all),  that  she  sailed  solemnly  away  down  the  burn,  and 
Tom  saw  her  no  more  for  that  time.  And  lucky  it  was 
for  her  that  she  did  so  ;  for  no  sooner  was  she  gone  than 
down  the  bank  came  seven  little  rough  terrier  dogs, 
snuffing  and  yapping,  and  grubbing  and  splashing,  in 
full  cry  after  the  otter.  Tom  hid  among  the  water-lilies 
till  they  were  gone  ;  for  he  could  not  guess  that  they 
were  the  water-fairies  come  to  help  him. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  9 1 

But  he  could  not  help  thinking  of  what  the  otter  had 

said  about  the  great  river  and  the  broad  sea.     And,  as 


he  thought,  he  longed  to  go  and  see  them.     He  could 
not  tell  why  ;  but  the  more  he  thought,  the  more  ne 


9^  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

grew  discontented  with  the  narrow  little  stream  in  which 
he  lived,  and  all  his  companions  there  ;  and  wanted  to 
get  out  into  the  wide,  wide  world,  and  enjoy  all  the 
wonderful  sights  of  which  he  was  sure  it  was  full. 

And  once  he  set  off  to  go  down  the  stream.  But  the 
stream  was  very  low  ;  and  when  he  came  to  the  shallows 
he  could  not  keep  under  water,  for  there  was  no  water 
left  to  keep  under.  So  the  sun  burned  his  back  and 
made  him  sick  ;  and  he  went  back  again  and  lay  quiet 
in  the  pool  for  a  whole  week  more. 

And  then,  on  the  evening  of  a  very  hot  day,  he  saw  a 
sight. 

He  had  been  very  stupid  all  day,  and  so  had  the  trout ; 
for  they  would  not  move  an  inch  to  take  a  fly,  though 
there  were  thousands  on  the  water,  but  lay  dozing  at 
the  bottom  under  the  shade  of  the  stones  ;  and  Tom  lay 
dozing,  too,  and  wTas  glad  to  cuddle  their  smooth  cool 
sides,  for  the  water  was  quite  warm  and  unpleasant. 

But  toward  evening  it  grew  suddenly  dark,  and  Tom 
looked  up  and  saw  a  blanket  of  black  clouds  lying  right 
across  the  valley  above  his  head,  resting  on  the  crags 
right  and  left.  He  felt  not  quite  frightened,  but  very 
still  ;  for  everything  was  still.  There  was  not  a  whisper 
of  wind,  nor  a  chirp  of  a  bird  to  be  heard  ;  and  next  a 
few  great  drops  of  rain  fell  plop  into  the  water,  and  one 
hit  Tom  on  the  nose,  and  made  him  pop  his  head  down 
quickly  enough. 

And  then  the  thunder  roared,  and  the  lightning 
flashed,  and  leapt  across  Vendale  and  back  again,  from 
cloud  to  cloud,  and  cliff  to  cliff,  till  the  very  rocks  in 
the  stream  seemed  to  shake  :  and  Tom  looked  up  at  it 
through  the  water,  and  thought  it  the  finest  thing  he 
ever  saw  in  his  life. 

But  out  of  the  water  he  dared  not  'out  his  head  ;  for 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  93 

the  rain  came  down  by  bucketsful,  and  the  hail  ham- 
mered like  shot  on  the  stream,  and  churned  it  into  foam  ; 
and  soon  the  stream  rose,  and  rushed  down,  higher  and 
higher,  and  fouler  and  fouler,  full  of  beetles,  and  sticks  ; 
and  straws,  and  worms,  and  addle-eggs,  and  wood-lice, 
and  leeches,  and  odds  and  ends,  and  omnium-gather- 
ums,  and  this,  that,  and  the  other,  enough  to  fill  nine 
museums. 

Tom  could  hardly  stand  against  the  stream,  and  hid 
behind  a  rock.  But  the  trout  did  not  ;  for  out  they 
rushed  from  among  the  stones,  and  began  gobbling  the 
beetles  and  leeches  in  the  most  greedy  and  quarrelsome 
way,  and  swimming  about  with  great  worms  hanging 
out  of  their  mouths,  tugging  and  kicking  to  get  them 
away  from  each  other. 

And  now,  by  the  flashes  of  the  lightning,  Tom  saw  anew 
sioht — all  the  bottom  of  the  stream. alive  with  great  eels, 
turning  and  twisting  along,  all  down  stream  and  away. 
They  had  been  hiding  for  weeks  past  in  the  cracks  of 
the  rocks,  and  in  burrows  in  the  mud  ;  and  Tom  had 
hardly  ever  seen  them,  except  now  and  then  at  night : 
but  now  they  were  all  out,  and  went  hurrying  past  him 
so  fiercely  and  wildly  that  he  was  quite  frightened. 
And  as  they  hurried  past  he  could  hear  them  say  to 
each  other,  u  We  must  run,  we  must  run.  What  a  jolly 
thunderstorm  I     Down  to  the  sea,  down  to  the  sea  !  " 

And  then  the  otter  came  by  with  all  her  brood, 
twining  and  sweeping  along  as  fast  as  the  eels  them- 
selves ;  and  she  spied  Tom  as  she  came  by,  and  said  : 

"  Now  is  your  time,  eft,  if  you  want  to  see  the  world. 
Come  along,  children,  never  mind  those  nasty  eels  :  we 
shall  breakfast  on  salmon  to-morrow.  Down  to  the 
sea,  down  to  the  sea  fv1 

Then  came  a  flash   Tmghter    than  all  the  rest,   and 


94  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

by  the  light  of  it — in  the  thousandth  part  of  a  second 
they  were  gone  again — but  he  had  seen  them,  he  was 
certain  of  it — three  beautiful  little  white  girls,  with  their 
arms  twined  round  each  other's  necks,  floating  down 
the  torrent,  as  they  sang,  "Down  to  the  sea,  down  to 
the  sea  !  ' ' 

"Oh,  stay!  Wait  for  me!"  cried  Tom;  but  they 
were  gone  :  vet  he  could  hear  their  voices  clear  and 
sweet  through  the  roar  of  thunder  and  water  and  wind, 
singing  as  they  died  away,  "  Down  to  the  sea  !  " 

"Down  to  the  sea?"  said  Tom;  "everything  is 
going  to  the  sea,  and  I  will  go  too.  Good-bye,  trout." 
But  the  trout  were  so  busy  gobbling  worms  that  they 
never  turned  to  answer  him  ;  so  that  Tom  was  spared 
the  pain  of  bidding  them  farewell. 

And  now,  down  the  rushing  stream,  guided  by  the 
bright  flashes  of  the  storm  ;  past  tall  birch-fringed  rocks, 
which  shone  out  one  moment  as  clear  as  day,  and  the 
next  were  dark  as  night  ;  past  dark  hovers  under  swirl- 
ing banks,  from  which  great  trout  rushed  out  jn  Tom, 
thinking  him  to  be  good  to  eat,  and  turned  back  sulkily, 
for  the  fairies  sent  them  home  again  with  a  tremendous 
scolding,  for  daring  to  meddle  with  a  water-baby  ;  on 
through  narrow  strids  and  roaring  cataracts,  where 
Tom  was  deafened  and  blinded  for  a  moment  by  the 
rushing  waters  ;  along  deep  reaches,  where  the  white 
water-lilies  tossed  and  flapped  beneath  the  wind  and 
hail  ;  past  sleeping  villages  ;  under  dark  bridge-arches, 
and  away  and  away  to  the  sea.  And  Tom  could  not 
stop,  and  did  not  care  to  stop  ;  he  would  see  the  great 
world  below,  and  the  salmon,  and  the  breakers,  and  the 
wide,  wide  sea. 

And  when  the  daylight  came,  Tom  found  himself  out 
in  the  salmon  river 


(95) 


96  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

And  what  sort  of  a  river  was  it?  Was  it  like  an 
Irish  stream,  winding  through  the  brown  bogs,  where 
the  wild  ducks  squatter  up  from  among  the  white  water- 
lilies,  and  the  curlews  flit  to  and  fro,  crying,  "Tullie- 
wheep,  mind  your  sheep  ;  "  and  Dennis  tells  you  strange 
stories  of  the  Peishtamore,  the  great  bogy-snake  which 
lies  in  the  black  peat  pools,  among  the  old  pine-stems, 
and  puts  his  head  out  at  night  to  snap  at  the  cattle  as 
they  come  down  to  drink  ?  But  you  must  not  be- 
lieve all  that  Dennis  tells  you,  mind;  for  if  you  ask 
him  : 

u  Is  there  a  salmon  here,  do  you  think,  Dennis?" 

uIs  it  salmon,  thin,  your  honor  manes?  Salmon? 
Cartloads  it  is  of  thim,  thin,  an'  ridgmens,  should thering 
ache  out  of  water,  av'  ye'd  but  the  luck  to  see  thim." 

Then  you  fish  the  pool  all  over,  and  never  get  a  rise. 

"  But  there  can't  be  a  salmon  here,  Dennis  !  and,  if 
you'll  but  think,  if  one  had  come  up  last  tide,  he'd  be 
gone  to  the  higher  pools  by  now." 

"  Slmre,  thin,  and  your  honor's  the  thrue  fisherman, 
and  understands  it  all  like  a  book.  Why,  ye  spake  as 
if  ye'd  known  the  wather  a  thousand  years  !  As  I  said, 
how  could  there  be  a  fish  here  at  all,  just  now  ?  " 

u  But  you  said  just  now  they  were  shouldering  each 
other  out  of  water  ?  " 

And  then  Dennis  will  look  up  at  you  with  his  hand- 
some, sly,  soft,  sleepy,  good-natured,  untrustable,  Irish 
gray  eye,  and  answer  with  the  prettiest  smile  : 

"  Shure,  and  didn't  I  think  your  honor  would  like  a 
pleasant  answer?  " 

So  you  must  not  trust  Dennis,  because  he  is  in  the 
habit  of  giving  pleasant  answers  :  but,  instead  of  being 
angry  with  him,  you  must  remember  that  he  is  a  poor 
Paddy,  and  knows  no  better  ;  so  you  must  just  burst  out 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


97 


laughing ;  and  then  he  will  burst  out  laughing,  too,  and 
slave  for  you,  and  trot  about  after  you,  and  show  you  good 
sport  if  he  can — for  he  is  an  affectionate  fellow,  and  as 
fond  of  sport  as  you  are — and  if  he  can't,  tell  you  fibs 
instead,  a  hundred  an  hour  ;  and  wonder  all  the  while 
why  poor  ould  Ireland  does  not  prosper  like  England 
and  Scotland,  and 
some  other  places, 
where  folks  have 
taken  up  a  ridiculous 
fancy  that  honesty  is 
the  best  policy. 

Or  was  it  like  a 
Welsh  salmon  river, 
which  is  remarkable 
chiefly  (at  least  till 
this  last  year)  for  con- 
taining no  salmon, 
as  they  have  been  all 
poached  out  by  the 
enlightened  peas- 
antry, to  prevent  the 
Cythrawl  Sassenach 
(which  means  you, 
my  little  dear, 
your  kith  and  kin, 
and  signifies  much 
the  same  as  the  Chi- 
nese Fan  Quel)  from  coming  bothering  into  Wales,  with 
good  tackle,  and  ready  money,  and  civilization,  and 
common  honesty,  and  other  like  things  of  which  the 
Cymry  stand  in  no  ne^d  whatsoever. 

Or  was  it  such  a  salmon  stream  as  I  trust  you  will  see 
among  the  Hampshire  water-meadows  before  your  hairs 


'""•  '"^--.X\ 


98  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

are  gray,  under  the  wise  new  fishing-laws? — when  Win- 
chester apprentices  shall  covenant,  as  they  did  three 
hundred  years  ago,  not  to  be  made  to  eat  salmon  more 
than  three  days  a  week  ;  and  fresh-run  fish  shall  be  as 
plentiful  under  Salisbury  spire  as  they  are  in  Holly-hole 
at  Christchurch  ;  in  the  good  time  coming,  when  folks 
shall  see  that,  of  all  Heaven's  gifts  of  food,  the  one  to 
be  protected  most  carefully  is  that  worthy  gentleman 
salmon,  who  is  generous  enough  to  go  down  to  the  sea 
weighing  five  ounces,  and  to  come  back  next  year 
weighing  five  pounds,  without  having  cost  the  soil  or 
the  state  one  farthing  ? 

Or  was  it  like  a  Scotch  stream,  such  as  Arthur  Clough 
drew  in  his  u  Bothie  :  " 

"  WJiere  over  a  ledge  of  granite 
Into  a  granite  bason  the  amber  torrent  descended.    .... 
Beautiful  tliere  for  the  color  derived  from  green  rocks  under ; 
Beautiful  most  of  all  where  beads  of  foam  uprising 
Mingle  their  clouds  of  zvldte  with  the  delicate  hue  of  the  still- 
ness. 
Cliff  over  cliff  for  its  sides,  with  rowan  and  pendant  birch 
boughs."     ,     .     . 

Ah,  my  little  man,  when  you  are  a  big  man,  and  fish 
such  a  stream  as  that,  you  will  hardly  care,  I  think, 
whether  she  be  roaring  down  in  full  spate,  like  coffee 
covered  with  scald  cream,  while  the  fish  are  swirling  at 
your  fly  as  an  oar-blade  swirls  in  a  boat-race,  or  flashing  up 
the  cataract  like  silver  arrows,  out  of  the  fiercest  of  the 
foam  ;  or  whether  the  fall  be  dwindled  to  a  single  thread, 
and  the  shingle  below  be  as  white  and  dusty  as  a  turn- 
pike road,  while  the  salmon  huddle  together  in  one  dark 
cloud  in  the  clear  amber  pool,  sleeping  away  their  time 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


99 


till  the  rain  creeps  back  again  off  the  sea.  You  will  not 
care  much,  if  you  have  eyes  and  brains  ;  for  you  will  lay 
down  your  rod  contentedly,  and  drink  in  at  your  eyes 
the  beauty  of  that  glorious  place  ;  and  listen  to  the 
water-ouzel  piping  on  the  stones,  and  watch  the  yellow 
roes  come  down  to  drink  and  look  up  at  you  with 
their  great  soft  trustful  eyes,  as  much  as  to  say,  ' '  You 
Could  not  have  the  heart  to  shoot  at  us?  "     And  then, 


if  you  have  sense,  you  will  turn  and  talk  to  the  great 
giant  of  a  gilly  who  lies  basking  on  the  stone  beside  you. 
He  will  tell  you  no  fibs,  my  little  man  ;  for  he  is  a 
Scotchman,  and  fears  God,  and  not  the  priest  ;  and,  as 
you  talk  with  him,  you  will  be  surprised  more  and  more 
at  his  knowledge,  his  sense,  his  humor,  his  courtesy  ; 
and  you  will  find  out — unless  you  have  found  it  out  be- 
fore— that  a  man  may  learn  from  his  Bible  to  be  a  more 


IOO  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

thorough  gentleman  than  if  he  had  been  brought  up  in 
all  the  drawing-rooms  in  London. 

No.  It  was  none  of  these,  the  salmon  stream  a*" 
Harthover.  It  was  such  a  stream  as  you  see  in  dear  old 
Bewick  ;  Bewick,  who  was  born  and  bred  upon  them. 
A  full  hundred  yards  broad  it  was,  sliding  on  from  broad 
pool  to  broad  shallow,  and  broad  shallow  to  broad  pool, 
over  great  fields  of  shingle,  under  oak  and  ash  coverts, 
past  low  cliffs  of  sandstone,  past  green  meadows,  and 
fair  parks,  and  a  great  house  of  gray  stone,  and  brown 
moors  above,  and  here  and  there  against  the  sky  the 
smoking  chimney  of  a  colliery.  You  must  look  at 
Bewick  to  see  just  what  it  was  like,  for  he  has  drawn 
it  a  hundred  times  with  the  care  and  the  love  of  a  true 
north  countryman  ;  and,  even  if  you  do  not  care  about 
'".he  salmon  river,  you  ought,  like  all  good  boys,  to  know 

)ur  Bewick. 

At  least,  so  old  Sir  John  used  to  say,  and  very  sensibly 
ne  put  it  too,  as  he  was  wont  to  do  : 

u  If  they  want  to  describe  a  finished  young  gentleman 
in  France,  I  hear,  they  say  of  him,  '//  sait  son  Rabelais.^ 
But  if  I  want  to  describe  one  in  England,  I  say,  ''He 
knows  his  Bewick.'1  And  I  think  that  is  the  higher 
compliment." 

But  Tom  thought  nothing  about  what  the  river  was 
like.  All  his  fancy  was  to  get  down  to  the  wide-wide 
sea. 

And  after  a  while  he  came  to  a  place  where  the  river 
spread  out  into  broad  still  shallow  reaches,  so  wide  that 
little  Tom,  as  he  put  his  head  out  of  the  water,  could 
hardly  see  across. 

And  there  he  stopped.  He  got  a  little  frightened. 
"This  must  be  the  sea,"  he  thought.  "  What  a  wide 
place  it  is  !     If  J  go  on  into  it  I  shall  surely  lose  my 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  IOI 

way,  or  some  strange  thing  will  bite  ine.  I  will  stop 
here,  and  look  out  for  the  otter,  or  the  eels,  or  some  one 
to  tell  me  where  I  shall  go." 

So  he  went  back  a  little  way,  and  crept  into  a  crack 
of  the  rock,  just  where  the  river  opened  out  into  the 
wide  shallows,  and  watched  for  some  one  to  tell  him  his 
way  ;  but  the  otter  and  the  eels  were  gone  on  miles  and 
miles  down  the  stream. 

There  he  waited,  and  slept,  too,  for  he  was  quite 
tired  with  his  night's  journey  ;  and,  when  he  woke,  the 
stream  was  clearing  to  a  beautiful  amber  hue,  though  it 
was  still  very  high.  And  after  a  while  he  saw  a  sight 
which  made  him  jump  up  ;  for  he  knew  in  a  moment 
it  was  one  of  the  things  which  he  had  come  to  look  for. 

Such  a  fish  ;  ten  times  as  big  as  the  biggest  trout, 
and  a  hundred  times  as  big  as  Tom,  sculling  up  the 
stream  past  him,  as  easily  as  Tom  had  sculled  down. 

Such  a  fish  !  shining  silver  from  head  to  tail,  and  here 
and  there  a  crimson  dot ;  with  a  grand  hooked  nose 
and  grand  curling  lip,  and  a  grand  bright  eye,  looking 
round  him  as  proudly  as  a  king,  and  surveying  the 
water  right  and  left  as  if  all  belonged  to  him.  Surely 
he  must  be  the  salmon,  the  king  of  all  the  fish. 

Tom  was  so  frightened  that  he  longed  to  creep  into 
a  hole  ;  but  he  need  not  have  been  ;  for  Salmon  are  all 
true  gentlemen,  and,  like  true  gentlemen,  they  look 
noble  and  proud  enough,  and  yet,  like  true  gentlemen, 
they  never  harm  or  quarrel  with  any  one,  but  go  about 
their  own  business,  and  leave  rude  fellows  to  them* 
selves. 

The  salmon  looked  at  him  full  in  the  face,  and  then 
went  on  without  minding  him,  with  a  swish  or  two  of 
his  tail,  which  made  the  stream  boil  again.  And  in  a 
few  minutes  came  another,  and  then  four  or  five,  and 


<  4 


102  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

so  on ;  and  all  passed  Tom,  rushing  and  plunging  up  the 
cataract  with  strong  strokes  of  their  silver  tails,  now  and 
then  leaping  clean  out  of  water  and  up  over  a  rock, 
shining  gloriously  for  a  moment  in  the  bright  sun  ; 
while  Tom  was  so  delighted  that  he  could  have  watched 
them  all  day  long. 

And  at  last  one  came  up  bigger  than  all  the  rest ;  but 
he  came  slowly,  and  stopped,  and  looked  back,  and 
seemed  very  anxious  and  busy.  And  Tom  saw  that  he 
was  helping  another  salmon,  an  especially  handsome 
one,  who  had  not  a  single  spot  upon  it,  but  was  clothed 
in  pure  silver  from  nose  to  tail. 

iv  My  dear,"  said  the   great  fish    to  his   companion, 

you  really  look  dreadfully  tired,  and  you  must  not 
overexert  yourself  at  first.  Do  rest  yourself  behind  this 
rock  ;*'  and  he  shoved  her  gently  with  his  nose,  to  the 
rock  where  Tom  sat. 

You  must  know  that  this  was  the  salmon's  wife. 
For  salmon,  like  other  true  gentlemen,  always  choose 
their  lady,  and  love  her,  and  are  true  to  her,  and  take 
care  of  her,  and  work  for  her,  and  fight  for  her,  as  every 
true  gentleman  ought ;  and  are  not  like  vulgar  chub  and 
roach  ?nd  pike,  who  have  no  high  feelings,  and  take  no 
care  of  their  wives. 

Then  he  saw  Tom,  and  looked  at  him  very  fiercely 
one  moment,  as  if  he  was  groin^  to  bite  him. 

"  What  do  you  want  here?  "  he  said,  very  fiercely. 

11  Oh,  don't  hurt  me  !  "  cried  Tom.  "  I  only  want  to 
look  at  you  ;  you  are  so  handsome." 

"Ah?"  said  the  salmon,  very  stately  but  very  civilly. 
"  I  renlly  beg  your  pardon  ;  I  see  what  you  are,  my  little 
dear.  I  have  met  one  or  two  creatures  like  you  before, 
and  f  mnd  them  very  agreeable  and  well-behaved.  In- 
deed  one  of  them  snowed  me  a  great  kindness  lately, 


m*H*k,  ,, 


(ioa> 


104  THE  WATER-BABXES. 

which  I  hope  to  be  able  to  repay.  I  hope  we  snaU  not 
be  in  your  way  here.  As  soon  as  this  lady  is  rested,  we 
shall  proceed  on  our  journey." 

What  a  well-bred  old  salmon  he  was  ! 

icSo  you  have  seen  things  like  me  before?"  asked 
Tom. 

"  Several  times,  my  dear.  Indeed,  it  was  only  last 
night  that  one  at  the  river's  mouth  came  and  warned  me 
and  my  wife  of  some  new  stake-nets  whkh  had  got  into 
the  stream,  I  cannot  tell  how,  since  last  winter,  and 
showed  us  the  way  round  them,  in  the  most  charmingly 
obli^in^  way." 

"So  there  are  babies  in  the  sea?"  cried  Tom,  and 
clapped  his  little  hands.  "  Then  I  shall  have  some  one 
to  play  with  there?     How  delightful  ! " 

u  Were  there  no  babies  up  this  stream?"  asked  the 
lady  salmon. 

"  No  !  And  I  orew  so  lonelv.  I  thought  I  saw  three 
last  night  ;  but  they  were  gone  in  an  instant,  down  to 
the  sea.  So  I  went,  too  ;  for  I  had  nothing  to  play  with 
but  caddises  and  dragon-flies  and  trout." 

u  Ugh  !"  cried  the  lady,  "  what  low  company  !  " 

"My  dear,  if  he  has  been  in  low  company,  he  has 
certainly  not  learnt  their  low  manners,"  said  the  salmon. 

"No,  indeed,  poor  little  dear:  but  how  sad  for  him 
to  live  among  such  people  as  caddises,  who  have  actually 
six  legs,  the  nasty  things  ;  and  dragon-flies,  too  !  why 
they  are  not  even  good  to  eat  ;  for  I  tried  them  once,  and 
they  are  all  hard  and  empty  ;  and,  as  for  trout,  every 
one  knows  what  they  are."  Whereon  she  curled  up 
her  lip,  and  looked  dreadfully  scornful,  while  her  hus- 
band curled  up  his,  too  ;  till  he  looked  as  proud  as 
Alcibiades. 

1 '  Why  do  you  dislike  the  trout  so  ?  "  asked  Tom. 


A  FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


I°5 


"My  dear,  we  do  not  even  mention  them,  if  we  can 
help  it  ;  for  I  am  sorry  to  say  they  are  relations  of  ours 
who  do  us  no  credit.  A  great  many  years  ago  they 
were  just  like  us  :  but  they  were  so  lazy,  and  cowardly, 
and  greedy,  that  instead  of  going  down  to  the  sea  every 
year  to  see  the  world  and  grow  strong  and  fat,  they  chose 
to  stay  and  poke  about  in  the  little  streams  and  eat 
worms  and  grubs  ;  and  they  are  very  properly  punished 
for  it  ;  for  they  have  grown  ugly  and  brown  and  spotted 


and  small  ;  and  are  actually  so  degraded  in  their  tastes 
that  they  will  eat  our  children." 

"And  then  they  pretend  to  scrape  acquaintance  with 
us  again,"  said  the  lady.  "Why,  I  have  actually 
known  one  of  them  propose  to  a  lady  salmon,  the  little 
impudent  creature." 

"  I  should  hope,"  said  the  gentleman,  "  that  there  are 
verv  few  ladies  of  our  race  who  would  degrade  them- 
selves  by  listening  to  such  a  creature  for  an  instant. 
If  I  saw  such  a  thing  happen,  I  should  consider  it  my 
duty  to  put  them  both  to  death  upon  the  spot."    So  the 

S —  Water-Babies 


I06  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

old  salmon  said,  like  an  old  blue-blooded  hidalgo  of 
Spain  ;  and  what  is  more,  he  would  have  done  it  too. 
For  you  must  know,  no  enemies  are  so  bitter  against 
each  other  as  those  who  are  of  the  same  race  ;  and  a 
salmon  looks  on  a  trout,  as  some  great  folks  look  on 
some  little  folks,  as  something  just  too  much  like  him- 
self to  be  tolerated. 

"  Sweet  is  the  *ore  wmch  Nature  brings ; 
Our  meddling  intellect 
Misshapes  the  beauteous  forms  of  things 
We  murder  to  dissect. 

"Enough  of  science  and  of  art: 
Close  up  these  barren  leaves  ; 
Come  forth,  and  bring  with  you  a  heart 
That  watches  and  receives. ' ' 

WORDSWORm 


CHAPTER  IV. 


salmon  went  up,  after 
Tom  had  warned  them 
of  the  wicked  old  otter, 
and  Tom  went  down; 
■but    slowly    and    cau- 
tiously, coasting-  along 
the    shore.       He    was 
many  days  about  it,  for  it 
==» —  was  many  miles  down   to 
the  sea  ;    and   perhaps  he 
would  never  have  found  his  way 
if  the  fairies  had  not  guided  him, 
without  his  seeing  their  fair  faces 
or  feel  in gf  their  gentle  hands. 
And,  as  he  went,  he  had  a  very  strange  adventure.     It 
was  a  clear  still  September  night,  and  the  moon  shone 
so  brightly  down  through  the  water  that  he  could  not 
sleep,  though  he  shut  his  eyes  as  tight  as  possible.     So 

(107) 


IOS  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

at  last  he  came  up  to  the  top,  and  sat  upon  a  little  point 
of  rock,  and  looked  up  at  the  broad  yellow  moon,  and 
wondered  what  she  was,  and  thought  that  she  looked  at 
him.  And  he  watched  the  moonlight  on  the  rippling 
river,  and  the  black  heads  of  the  firs,  and  the  silver- 
frosted  lawns,  and  listened  to  the  owl's  hoot,  and  the 
snipe's  bleat,  and  the  fox's  bark,  and  the  otter's  laugh  ; 
and  smelt  the  soft  perfume  of  the  birches,  and  the  wafts 
of  heather  honey  off  the  grouse  moor  far  above  ;  and 
felt  very  happy,  though  he  could  not  well  tell  why. 
You,  of  course,  would  have  been  very  cold  sitting  there 
on  a  September  night,  without  the  least  bit  of  clothes 
on  your  wet  back  ;  but  Tom  was  a  water-baby,  and  there- 
fore felt  cold  no  more  than  a  fish. 

Suddenly,  he  saw  a  beautiful  sight.  A  bright  red 
light  moved  along  the  river-side,  and  threw  down  into 
the  water  a  long  tap-root  of  flame.  Tom,  curious  little 
rogue  that  he  was,  must  needs  go  and  see  what  it  was  ; 
so  he  swam  to  the  shore,  and  met  the  light  as  it  stopped 
over  a  shallow  run  at  the  edge  of  a  low  rock. 

And  there,  underneath  the  light,  lay  five  or  six  great 
salmon,  looking  up  at  the  flame  with  their  great  goggle 
eyes,  and  wagging  their  tails,  as  if  they  were  very  much 
pleased  at  it. 

Tom  came  to  the  top,  to  look  at  this  wonderful  light 
nearer,  and  made  a  splash. 

And  he  heard  a  voice  say  : 

u  There  was  a  fish  rose." 

He  did  not  know  what  the  words  meant  :  but  he 
seemed  to  know  the  sound  of  them,  and  to  know  the 
voice  which  spoke  them  ;  and  he  saw  on  the  bank  three 
great  two-legged  creatures,  one  of  whom  held  the  light, 
flaring  and  sputtering,  and  another  a  long  pole.  And 
he  knew  that  they  were  men,  and  was  frightened,  and 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY.  IO9 

crept  into  a  hole  in  the  rock,  from  which  he  could  see 
what  went  on. 

The  man  with  the  torch  bent  down  over  the  water 
and  looked  earnestly  in  ;  and  then  he  said  : 

"  Tak'  that  muckle  fellow,  lad;  he's  ower  fifteen 
punds  ;  and  haud  your  hand  steady." 

Tom  felt  that  there  was  some  danger  coming,  and 
longed  to  warn  the  foolish  salmon,  who  kept  staring  up 
at  the  light  as  if  he  was  bewitched.  But  before  he 
could  make  up  his  mind  down  came  the  pole  through 
the  water  ;  there  was  a  fearful  splash  and  struggle,  and 
Tom  saw  that  the  poor  salmon  was  speared  right  through, 
and  was  lifted  out  of  the  water. 

And  then,  from  behind,  there  sprang  on  these  three 
men  three  other  men  ;  and  there  were  shouts,  and 
blows,  and  words  which  Tom  recollected  to  have  heard 
before  ;  and  he  shuddered  and  turned  sick  at  them 
now,  for  he  felt  somehow  that  they  were  strange,  and 
ugly,  and  wrong,  and  horrible.  And  it  all  began  to 
come  back  to  him.  They  were  men  ;  and  they  were 
fighting  ;  savage,  deperate,  up-and-down  fighting,  such 
as  Tom  had  seen  too  many  times  before. 

And  he  stopped  his  little  ears,  and  longed  to  swim 
away  ;  and  was  very  glad  that  he  was  a  water-baby,  and 
had  nothing  to  do  any  more  with  horrid  dirty  men, 
with  foul  clothes  on  their  backs,  and  foul  words  on  their 
lips  ;  but  he  dared  not  stir  out  of  his  hole  :  while  the 
rock  shook  over  his  head  with  the  trampling  and 
struggling  of  the  keepers  and  the  poachers. 

All  of  a  sudden  there  was  a  tremendous  splash,  and  a 
frightful  flash,  and  a  hissing,  and  all  was  still. 

For  into  the  water,  close  to  Tom,  fell  one  of  the  men  ; 
he  who  held  the  light  in  his  hand.  Into  the  swift  river 
he  sank,  and  rolled  over  and  over  in  the  current.     Tom 


IIO  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

heard  the  men  above  run  along,  seemingly  looking  for 
him  ;  but  he  drifted  down  into  the  deep  hole  be'low, 
and  there  lay  quite  still,  and  they  could  not  find  him. 

Tom  waited  a  long  time,  till  all  was  quiet  ;  and  then 
he  peeped  out,  and  saw  the  man  lying.  At  last  he 
screwed  up  his  courage  and  swam  down  to  him.  "  Per- 
haps," he  thought,  "  the  water  has  made  him  fall  asleep, 
as  it  did  me." 

Then  he  went  nearer.  He  grew  more  and  more 
curious,  he  could  not  tell  why.  He  must  go  and  look 
at  him.  He  would  go  very  quietly,  of  course;  so  he 
swam  round  and  round  him,  closer  and  closer  ;  and,  as 
he  did  not  stir,  at  last  he  came  quite  close  and  looked 
him  in  the  face. 

The  moon  shone  so  bright  that  Tom  could  see  every 
feature  ;  and,  as  he  saw,  he  recollected,  bit  by  bit,  it 
was  his  old  master,  Grimes. 

Tom  turned  tail,  and  swam  away  as  fast  as  he  could. 

l<  Oh,  dear  me  !  "  he  thought,  "  now  he  will  turn  intb 
a  water-baby.  What  a  nasty,  troublesome  one  he  will 
be  !      And  perhaps  he  will  find  me  out,  and  beat  me 


aeain." 


So  he  went  up  the  river  again  a  little  way,  and  lay 
there  the  rest  of  the  night  under  an  alder  root  ;  but, 
when  morning  came,  he  longed  to  go  down  again  to 
the  big  pool,  and  see  whether  Mr.  Grimes  had  turned 
into  a  water-baby  yet. 

So  he  went  very  carefully,  peeping  round  all  the  rocks, 
and  hiding  under  all  the  roots.  Mr.  Grimes  lay  there 
still  ;  he  had  not  turned  into  a  water-baby.  In  the 
afternoon  Tom  went  back  again.  He  could  not  rest  till 
he  had  found  out  what  had  become  of  Mr.  Grimes.  But 
this  time  Mr.  Grimes  was  gone  ;  and  Tom  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  was  turned  into  a  water-babv. 


A  FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  Ill 

He  might  have  made  himself  easy,  poor  little  man  ; 
Mr.  Grimes  did  not  turn  into  a  water-baby,  or  anything 
like  one  at  all.  But  he  did  not  make  himself  easy  ;  and 
a  long  time  he  was  fearful  lest  he  should  meet  Grimes 
suddenly  in  some  deep  pool.  He  could  not  know  that 
the  fairies  had  carried  him  away,  and  put  him,  where 
they  put  everything  which  falls  into  the  water,  ex- 
actly where  it  ought  to  be.  But,  do  you  know,  what 
had  happened  to  Mr.  Grimes  had  such  an  effect  on 
him  that  he  never  poached  salmon  any  more.  And  it 
is  quite  certain  that,  when  a  man  becomes  a  confirmed 
poacher,  the  only  way  to  cure  him  is  to  put  him  under 
water  for  twenty-four  hours,  like  Grimes.  So  when 
you  grow  to  be  a  big  man,  do  you  behave  as  all  honest 
fellows  should  ;  and  never  touch  a  fish  or  a  head  of  game 
which  belongs  to  another  man  without  his  express 
leave  ;  and  then  people  will  call  you  a  gentleman,  and 
treat  you  like  one  ;  and  perhaps  give  you  good  sport : 
instead  of  hitting  you  into  the  river,  or  calling  you  a 
poaching  snob. 

Then  Tom  went  on  down,  for  he  was  afraid  of  staying 
near  Grimes  :  and  as  he  went,  all  the  vale  looked  sad. 
The  red  and  vellow  leaves  showered  down  into  the 
river  ;  the  flies  and  beetles  were  all  dead  and  gone  ;  the 
chill  autumn  fog  lay  low  upon  the  hills,  and  sometimes 
spread  itself  so  thickly  on  the  river  that  he  could  not 
see  his  way.  But  he  felt  his  way  instead,  following  the 
flow  of  the  stream,  day  after  day,  past  great  bridges, 
past  boats  and  barges,  past  the  great  town,  with  its 
wharfs,  and  mills,  and  tall  smoking  chimneys,  and  ships 
which  rode  at  anchor  in  the  stream  ;  and  now  and  then 
he  ran  against  their  hawsers,  and  wondered  what  they 
were,  and  peeped  out,  and  saw  the  sailors  lounging  on 
board  smoking  their  pipes;   and  ducked  under  again, 


HZ 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


for  he  was  terribly  afraid  of  being  caught  by  man  and 
turned  into  a  chimney-sweep  once  more.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  fairies  were  close  to  him  always,  shutting 
the  sailors'  eyes  lest  they  should  see  him,  and  turning 
him  aside  from  millraces,  and  sewer-mouths,  and  all 
foul  and  dangerous  things.  Poor  little  fellow,  it  was  a 
dreary  journey  for  him  ;  and  more  than  once  he  longed 
to  be  back  in  Vendale,  playing  with  the  trout  in  the 

bright  summer  sun. 

But  it  could  not  be. 

What  has  been  once 


never     come 


can 

over  again.  And 
people  can  be  little 
babies,  even  water- 
babies,  only  once  in 
their  lives. 

Besides,  people 
who  make  up  their 
minds  to  go  and  see 
the  world,  as  Tom 
did,  must  needs  find 
it  a  weary  journey. 
Lucky  for  them  if 
they  do  not  lose 
heart  and  stop  half-way,  instead  of  going  on  bravely  to 
the  end  as  Tom  did.  For  then  they  will  remain  neither 
boys  nor  men,  neither  fish,  flesh,  nor  good  red-herring  ; 
having  learnt  a  great  deal  too  much,  and  yet  not  enough  ; 
and  sown  their  wild  oats,  without  having  the  advantage 
of  reaping  them. 

But  Tom  was  always  a  brave,  determined  little  English 
bull-dog  who  never  knew  when  he  was  beaten  ;  and  on 
and  on  he  held,  till  he  saw  a  long  way  off  the  red  buoy 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


"3 


through  the  fog.     And  then  he  found,  to  his  surprise, 
the  stream  turned  round,  and  running  up  inland. 

It  was  the  tide,  of  course  :  but  Tom  knew  nothing  of 
the  tide.  He  only  knew  that  in  a  minute  more  the 
water,  which  had  been  fresh,  turned  salt  all  round  him. 
And  then  there  came  a  change  over  him.  He  felt  as 
strong,  and  light,  and  fresh  as  if  his  veins  had  run  cham- 
pagne ;  and  gave,  he  did  not  know  why,  three  skips  out 
of  the  water,  a  yard  high,  and  head  over  heels,  just  as 
the  salmon  do  when  they  first  touch  the  noble  rich  salt 
water,  which,  as  some 
wise  men  tell  us,  is 
the  mother  of  all  living 
things. 

He  did  not  care  now 
for  the  tide  being 
against  him.  The  red 
buov  was  in  sight, 
dancing  in  the  open 
sea  ;  and  to  the  buoy  he 
would  go,  and  to  it  he 
went.  He  passed  great 
shoals  of  bass  and  mul- 
let, leaping  and  rushing 
in  after  the  shrimps,  but  he  never  heeded  them  or  »hey 
him  ;  and  once  he  passed  a  great  black  shining  seal, 
who  was  coming  in  after  the  mullet.  The  seal  ps.t  his 
head  and  shoulders  out  of  water,  and  stared  at  him, 
looking  exactly  like  a  fat  old  greasy  negro  with  *l  gray 
pate.  And  Tom,  instead  of  being  frightened,  said, 
"How  d'ye  do,  sir?  what  a  beautiful  place  the  sea 
is  ! '  And  the  old  seal,  instead  of  trying  to  bite  him, 
looked  at  him  with  his  soft  sleepy  winking  eyes,  and 
said,  "Good  tide  to  you,  my  little  man  ;  are  you   ooking 


114  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

for  your  brothers  and  sisters  ?  I  passed  them  all  at  play 
outside." 

u  Oh,  then,"  said  Tom,  "  I  shall  have  playfellows  at 
last,"  and  he  swam  011  to  the  buoy,  and  got  upon  it  (for 
he  was  quite  out  or  breath)  and  sat  there  and  looked 
round  for  water-babies  ;  but  there  were  none  to  be  seen. 

The  sea-breeze  came  in  freshly  with  the  tide  and  blew 
the  fog  away  ;  and  the  little  waves  danced  for  joy  around 
the  buoy,  and  the  old  buoy  danced  with  them.  The 
shadows  of  the  clouds  ran  races  over  the  bright  blue  bay, 
and  yet  never  caught  each  other  up  ;  and  the  breakers 
plunged  merrily  upon  the  wide  white  sands,  and  jumped 
up  over  the  rocks,  to  see  what  the  green  fields  inside 
were  like,  and  tumbled  down  and  broke  themselves  all 
to  pieces,  and  never  minded  it  a  bit,  but  mended  them- 
selves and  jumped  up  again.  And  the  terns  hovered 
over  Tom  like  huge  white  dragon-flies  with  black  heads, 
and  the  gulls  laughed  like  girls  at  play,  and  the  sea-pies, 
with  their  red  bills  and  legs,  flew  to  and  fro  from  shore 
to  shore,  and  whistled  sweet  and  wild.  And  Tom 
looked  and  looked,  and  listened  ;  and  he  would  have 
been  very  happy,  if  he  could  only  have  seen  the  water- 
babies.  Then,  when  the  tide  turned,  he  left  the  buoy, 
and  swam  round  and  round  in  search  of  them  :  but  in 
vain.  Sometimes  he  thought  he  heard  them  laughing  ; 
but  it  was  only  the  laughter  of  the  ripples.  And  some- 
times he  thought  he  saw  them  at  the  bottom  :  but  it  was 
only  white  and  pink  shells.  And  once  he  was  sure  he 
had  found  one,  for  he  saw  two  bright  eyes  peeping  out 
of  the  sand.  So  he  dived  down,  and  began  scraping  the 
sand  away,  and  cried,  "Don't  hide;  I  do  want  some 
one  to  play  with  so  much  !"  And  out  jumped  a  great 
turbot  with  his  ugly  eyes  and  mouth  all  awry,  and 
flopped   away  along   the   bottom,  knocking  poor  Tom 


(»5) 


Il6  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

over.     And  he  sat  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and 
cried  salt  tears  from  sheer  disappointment. 

To  have  come  all  this  way,  and  faced  so  many  dangers, 
and  yet  to  find  no  water-babies  !  How  hard  !  Well,  it 
did  seem  hard  :  but  people,  even  little  babies,  cannot 
have  all  they  want  without  waiting  for  it,  and  working 
for  it,  too,  my  little  man,  as  you  will  find  out  some  day. 

And  Tom  sat  upon  the  buoy  long  days,  long  weeks, 
looking  out  to  sea,  and  wondering  when  the  water- 
babies  would  come  back  ;  and  yet  they  never  came. 

Then  he  began  to  ask  all  the  strange  things  which 
came  in  out  of  the  sea  if  they  had  seen  any  ;  and  some 
said  "  Yes,"  and  some  said  nothing  at  all. 

He  asked  the  bass  and  the  pollock  ;  but  they  were  so 
greedy  after  the  shrimps  that  they  did  not  care  to  answer 
him  a  word. 

Then  there  came  in  a  whole  fleet  of  purple  sea-snails, 
floating  along,  each  on  a  sponge  full  of  foam,  and  Tom 
said,  "Where  do  you  come  from,  you  pretty  creatures? 
and  have  you  seen  the  water-babies  ?  n 
*  And  the  sea-snails  answered,  "Whence  we  come  we 
know  not ;  and  whither  w7e  are  going",  who  can  tell  ? 
We  float  out  our  life  in  the  mid-ocean,  with  the  warm 
sunshine  above  our  heads,  and  the  warm  gulf-stream 
below  ;  and  that  is  enough  for  us.  Yes  ;  perhaps  we 
have  seen  the  water-babies.  We  have  seen  many 
strange  things  as  we  sailed  along."  And  they  floated 
away,  the  happy  stupid  things,  and  all  went  ashore 
flpon  the  sands. 

Then  there  came  in  a  great  lazy  sunfish,  as  big  as  a 
fat  pig  cut  in  half ;  and  he  seemed  to  have  been  cut  in 
half,  too,  and  squeezed  in  a  clothes-press  till  he  was  flat ; 
but  to  all  his  big  body  and  big  fins  he  had  only  a  little 
rabbit's  mouth,  no  bigger  than  Tom's;  and,  when  Tom 


A    FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


IJ7 


questioned  him,  he  answered  in  a  little  squeaky  feeble 
voice  : 

"  I'm  sure  I  don't  know  ;  I've  lost  my  way.  I  meant 
to  go  to  the  Chesapeake,  and  I'm  afraid  I've  got  wrong 
somehow.  Dear  me  !  it  was  all  by  following  that  pleas- 
ant warm  water.      I'm  sure  I've  lost  my  way." 

And,  when  Tom  asked  him  again,  he  could  only  an- 
swer, "  I've  lost  my  way.  Don't  talk  to  me.  I  want  tc 
think." 

But,  like  a  good  many  other  people,  the  more  he  tried 
to  think  the  less  he 
could  think  ;  and 
Tom  saw  him  blun- 
dering about  all  day, 
till  the  coast-guards- 
men saw  his  big  fin 
above  the  water,  and 
rowed  out,  and  stuck 
a  boat-hook  into 
him,  and  took  him 
away.  They  took 
him  up  to  the  town 
and  snowed  him  for 

a  penny  a  head,  and  made  a  good  day's  work  of  it. 
of  course  Tom  did  not  know  that. 

Then  there  came  by  a  shoal  of  porpoises,  rolling  as 
they  went — papas,  and  mammas,  and  little  children — 
and  all  quite  smooth  and  shiny,  because  the  fairies 
French-polish  them  every  morning  ;  and  they  sighed  so 
softly  as  they  came  by  that  Tom  took  courage  to  speak 
to  them:  but  all  they  answered  was,  "  Hush,  hush, 
hush  ; "  for  that  was  all  they  had  learnt  to  say. 

And  then  there  came  a  shoal  of  basking  sharks,  som^ 
of  them  as  long  as  a  boat,  and  Tom  was  frightened  at 


But 


Il8  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

them.  But  they  were  very  lazy,  good-natured  fellows, 
not  greedy  tyrants  like  white  sharks  and  blue  sharks  and 
ground  sharks  and  hammer-heads,  who  eat  men,  or 
saw-fish  and  threshers  and  ice-sharks,  who  hunt  the 
poor  old  whales.  They  came  and  rubbed  their  great 
sides  against  the  buoy,  and  lay  basking  in  the  sun  with 
their  backfins  out  of  water  ;  and  winked  at  Tom  :  but 
he  never  could  get  them  to  speak.  They  had  eaten  so 
many  herrings  that  they  were  quite  stupid  ;  and  Tom 
was  glad  when  a  collier  brig  came  by  and  frightened 
them  all  away  ;  for  they  did  smell  most  horribly,  cer- 
tainly, and  he  had  to  hold  his  nose  tight  as  long  as  they 
were  there. 

And  then  there  came  by  a  beautiful  creature,  like  a 
ribbon  of  pure  silver,  with  a  sharp  head  and  very  long 
teeth  ;  but  it  seemed  very  sick  and  sad.  Sometimes  it 
rolled  helpless  on  its  side  ;  and  then  it  dashed  away, 
glittering  like  white  fire;  and  then  it  lay  sick  ag^in  and 
motionless. 

"Where  do  you  come  from?"  asked  Tom.  "And 
why  are  you  so  sick  and  sad  ?  " 

u  I  come  from  the  warm  Carolinas  and  the  sandbanks 
fringed  with  pines  ;  where  the  great  owl-rays  leap  and 
flap,  like  giant  bats,  upon  the  tide.  But  I  wandered 
north  and  north,  upon  the  treacherous  warm  gulf-streamr 
till  I  met  with  the  cold  icebergs,  afloat  in  the  mid-ocean. 
So  I  got  tangled  among  the  icebergs,  and  chilled  with 
their  frozen  breath.  But  the  water-babies  helped  me 
from  among  them,  and  set  me  free  again.  And  now  I 
am  mending  every  day  ;  but  I  am  very  sick  and  sad  ; 
and  perhaps  I  shall  never  get  home  again  to  play  with 
the  owl-rays  any  more. ' ' 

"Oh!"  cried  Tom.  "And  you  have  seen  water- 
babies  ?     Have  you  seen  any  near  here  ? ' ' 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  II9 

u  Yes  ;  they  helped  me  again  last  night,  or  I  should 
have  been  eaten  by  a  great  black  porpoise." 

How  vexatious  !  The  water-babies  close  to  him,  and 
yet  he  could  not  find  one. 

And  then  he  left  the  buoy,  and  used  to  go  along  the 
sands  and  round  the  rocks,  and  come  out  in  the  night 
— like  the  forsaken  Merman  in  Mr.  Arnold's  beautiful, 
beautiful  poem,  which  you  must  learn  by  heart  some 
day — and  sit  upon  a  point  of  rock,  among  the  shining 
lea-weeds,  in  the  low  October  tides,  and  cry  and  call 
for  the  water-babies  ;  but  he  never  heard  a  voice  call  in 
return.  And  at  last,  with  his  fretting  and  crying,  he 
grew  quite  lean  and  thin. 

But  one  day  among  the  rocks  he  found  a  playfellow. 
It  was  not  a  water-baby,  alas  !  but  it  was  a  lobster  ; 
and  a  very  distinguished  lobster  he  was  ;  for  he  had 
live  barnacles  on  his  claws,  which  is  a  great  mark  of 
distinction  in  lobsterdom,  and  no  more  to  be  bought 
for  money  than  a  good  conscience  or  the  Victoria 
Cross. 

Tom  had  never  seen  a  lobster  before  ;  and  he  was 
mightily  taken  with  this  one  ;  for  he  thought  him  the 
most  curious,  odd,  ridiculous  creature  he  had  ever  seen ; 
and  there  he  was  not  far  wrong  ;  for  all  the  ingenious 
men,  and  all  the  scientific  men,  and  all  the  fanciful  men, 
in  the  world,  with  all  the  old  German  bogy-painters 
into  the  bargain,  could  never  invent,  if  all  their  wits 
were  boiled  into  one,  anything  so  curious,  and  so  ridic- 
ulous, as  a  lobster. 

He  had  one  claw  knobbed  and  the  other  jagged  ;  and 
Tom  delighted  in  watching  him  hold  on  to  the  seaweed 
with  his  knobbed  claw,  while  he  cut  up  salads  with  his 
jagged  one,  and  then  put  them  into  his  mouth,  after 
smelling  at  them,   like  a  monkey.     And    always    the 


120  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

little  barnacles  threw  out  their  casting-nets  and  swept 
the  water,  and  came  in  for  their  share  of  whatever  there 
was  for  dinner. 

But  Tom  was  most  astonished  to  see  how  he  fired 
himself  off — snap  !  like  the  leap-frogs  which  you  make 
out  of  a  goose's  breast-bone.  Certainly  he  took  the 
most  wonderful  shots,  and  backwards,  too.  For,  if  he 
wanted  to  go  into  a  narrow  crack  ten  yards  off,  what  do 
you  think  he  did?  If  he  had  gone  in  head  foremost, 
of  course  he  could  not  have  turned  round.  So  he  used 
to  turn  his  tail  to  it,  and  lay  his  long  horns,  which 
carry  his  sixth  sense  in  their  tips  (and  nobody  knows 
what  that  sixth  sense  is),  straight  down  his  back  to 
guide  him,  and  twist  his  eyes  back  till  they  almost 
came  out  of  their  sockets,  and  then  made  ready,  pre- 
sent, fire,  snap  ! — and  away  he  went,  pop  into  the  hole  ; 
and  peeped  out  and  twiddled  his  whiskers,  as  much  as 
to  say,  "You  couldn't  do  that." 

Tom  asked  him  about  water-babies.  "  Yes,"  he  said. 
He  had  seen  them  often.  But  he  did  not  think  much 
of  them.  They  were  meddlesome  little  creatures,  that 
went  about  helping  fish  and  shells  which  got  into 
scrapes.  Well,  for  his  part,  he  should  be  ashamed  to 
be  helped  by  little  soft  creatures  that  had  not  even  a 
shell  on  their  backs.  He  had  lived  quite  long  enough 
in  the  world  to  take  care  of  himself. 

He  was  a  conceited  fellow,  the  old  lobster,  and  not 
very  civil  to  Tom  ;  and  you  will  hear  how  he  had  to 
alter  his  mind  before  he  was  done,  as  conceited  people 
generally  have.  But  he  was  so  funny,  and  Tom  so 
lonely,  that  he  could  not  quarrel  with  him  ;  and  the}7 
used  to  sit  in  holes  in  the  rocks,  and  chat  for  hours. 

And  about  this  time  there  happened  to  Tom  a  very 
strange  and  important  adventure — so  important,  indeed, 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  121 

that   he  was  very  near  never  finding  the  water-babies 


at  all ;  and  I  am  sure  you  would  have  been  sorry  fq 
that- 

Q — Water- Babies 


122  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

I  hope  that  you  have  not  forgotten  the  little  white  lady 
all  this  while.  At  least,  here  she  comes,  looking  like  a 
clean  white  good  little  darling,  as  she  always  was,  and 
always  will  be.  For  it  befell  in  the  pleasant  short  De- 
cember days,  when  the  wind  always  blows  from  the 
southwest,  till  Old  Father  Christmas  comes  and  spreads 
the  great  white  table-cloth,  ready  for  little  boys  and  girls 
to  give  the  birds  their  Christmas  dinner  of  crumbs — it 
befell  (to  go  on)  in  the  pleasant  December  days,  that  Sir 
John  was  so  busy  hunting  that  nobody  at  home  could 
get  a  word  out  of  him.  Four  days  a  week  he  hunted, 
and  very  good  sport  he  had  ;  and  the  other  two  he  went 
to  the  bench  and  the  board  of  guardians,  and  very  good 
justice  he  did  ;  and,  when  he  got  home  in  time,  he 
dined  at  five  ;  for  he  hated  this  absurd  new  fashion  of 
dining  at  eight  in  the  hunting  season,  which  forces  a 
man  to  make  interest  with  the  footman  for  cold  beef  and 
beer  as  soon  as  he  comes  in,  and  so  spoil  his  appetite, 
and  then  sleep  in  an  arm-chair  in  his  bedroom,  all  stiff 
and  tired,  for  two  or  three  hours  before  he  can  get  his 
dinner  like  a  gentleman.  And  do  you  be  like  Sir  John, 
my  dear  little  man,  when  you  are  your  own  master  ; 
and,  if  you  want  either  to  read  hard  or  ride  hard,  stick 
to  the  good  old  Cambridge  hours  of  breakfast  at  eight 
and  dinner  at  five  ;  by  which  you  may  get  two  days' 
work  out  of  one.  But,  of  course,  if  you  find  a  fox  at 
three  in  the  afternoon  and  run  him  till  dark,  and  leave 
off  twenty  miles  from  home,  why  you  must  wait  for 
your  dinner  till  you  can  get  it,  as  better  men  than  you 
have  done.  Only  see  that,  if  you  go  hungry,  your  horse 
does  not  ;  but  give  him  his  warm  gruel  and  beer,  and 
take  him  gently  home,  remembering  that  good  horses 
don't  grow  on  the  hed^e  like  blackberries. 

It  befell  (to  go  on  a  second  time)  that  Sir  John,  hunting 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


123 


all  day,  and  dining  at  five,  fell  asleep  every  evening, 
and  snored  so  terribly  that  all  the  windows  in  Harthover 
shook,  and  the  soot  fell  down  the  chimneys.  Whereon 
My  Lady,  being  no  more  able  to  get  conversation  out  of 
him  than  a  song  out  of  a  dead  nightingale,  determined 
to  go  off  and  leave  him,  and  the  doctor,  and  Captain 
Swinger  the  agent,  to  snore  in  concert  every  evening 
to  their  hearts'  content.     So  she  started  for  the  seaside 


with  all  the  children,  in  order  to  put  herself  and  them 
into  condition  by  mild  applications  of  iodine.  She 
might  as  well  have  staid  at  home  and  used  Parry's  liquid 
horse-blister,  for  there  was  plenty  of  it  in  the  stables  ; 
and  then  she  would  have  saved  her  money,  and  saved 
the  chance,  also,  of  making  all  the  children  ill  instead 
of  well  (as  hundreds  are  made),  by  taking  them  to  some 
nasty  smelling  undrained  lodging,  and  then  wondering 


124  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

how  they  caught  scarlatina  and  diphtheria  ;  but  people 
won't  be  wise  enough  to  understand  that  till  they  are 
dead  of  bad  smells,  and  then  it  will  be  too  late  ;  besides, 
you  see,  Sir  John  did  certainly  snore  very  loud. 

But  where  she  went  to  nobody  must  know,  for  fear 
young  ladies  should  begin  to  fancy  that  there  are  water- 
babies  there  !  and  so  hunt  and  howk  after  them  (besides 
raising  the  price  of  lodgings),  and  keep  them  in  acqua- 
riums,  as  the  ladies  at  Pompeii  (as  you  may  see  by  the 
paintings)  used  to  keep  Cupids  in  cages.  But  nobody 
ever  heard  that  they  starved  the  Cupids,  or  let  them  die 
of  dirt  and  neglect,  as  English  young  ladies  do  by  the 
poor  sea-beasts.  So  nobody  must  know  where  My  Lady 
went.  Letting  water-babies  die  is  as  bad  as  taking 
singing-birds'  eggs;  for,  though  there  are  thousands,  ay, 
millions,  of  both  of  them  in  the  world,  yet  there  is  not 
one  too  many. 

Now  it  befell  that,  on  the  very  shore,  and  over  the 
very  rocks,  where  Tom  was  sitting  with  his  friend  the 
lobster,  there  walked  one  day  the  little  white  lady,  Ellie 
herself,  and  with  her  a  very  wise  man  indeed — Professor 
Ptthmllnsprts. 

His  mother  was  a  Dutchwoman,  and  therefore  he  was 
born  at  Curasao  (of  course  you  have  learnt  your  geog- 
raphy, and  therefore  know  why)  ;  and  his  father  a  Pole, 
and  therefore  he  was  brought  up  at  Petropaulowski  (of 
course  you  have  learnt  your  modern  politics,  and  there- 
fore know  why) :  but  for  all  that  he  was  as  thorough  an 
Englishman  as  ever  coveted  his  neighbor's  goods.  And 
his  name,  as  I  said,  was  Professor  Ptthmllnsprts,  which 
is  a  very  ancient  and  noble  Polish  name. 

He  was,  as  I  said,  a  very  great  naturalist,  and  chief 
professor  of  Necrobioiieopalczonthydrochthonanthropopi- 
thekology  in   the  new  university  which  the  king  of  the 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


125 


Cannibal  Islands  had  founded  ;  and,  being  a  member  of 
the  Acclimatization  Society,  he  had  come  here  to  collect 
all  the  nasty  things  which  he  could  find  on  the  coast  of 
England,    and   turn    them   loose   round   the    Cannibal 


Islands,  because  they  had  not  nasty  things  enough  there 
to  eat  what  they  left. 

But  he  was  a  very  worthy,  kind,  good-natured  little 
old  gentleman  ;  and  very  fond  of  children  (for  he  was 
not  the  least  a  cannibal  himself)  ;   and  very  good  to  all 


126  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

the  world  as  long  as  it  was  good  to  him.  Only  one  fault 
he  had,  which  cock-robins  have  likewise,  as  you  may 
see  if  you  look  out  of  the  nursery  window — that,  when 
any  one  else  found  a  curious  worm,  he  would  hop  round 
them,  and  peck  them,  and  set  up  his  tail,  and  bristle 
up  his  feathers,  just  as  a  cock-robin  would  ;  and  de- 
clare that  he  found  the  worm  first  ;  and  that  it  was  his 
worm  ;  and,  if  not,  that  then  it  was  not  a  worm  at  all. 

He  had  met  Sir  John  at  Scarborough,  or  Fleetwood, 
or  somewhere  or  other  (if  you  don't  care  where,  nobody 
else  does),  and  had  made  acquaintance  with  him,  and 
become  very  fond  of  his  children.  Now,  Sir  John  knew 
nothing  about  sea-cockyolybirds,  and  cared  less,  provided 
the  fishmonger  sent  him  good  fish  for  dinner ;  and  My 
Lady  knew  as  little  :  but  she  thought  it  proper  that  the 
children  should  know  something.  For  in  the  stupid 
old  times,  you  must  understand,  children  were  taught 
to  know  one  thing,  and  to  know  it  well  ;  but  in  these 
enlightened  new  times  they  are  taught  to  know  a  little 
about  everything,  and  to  know  it  all  ill  ;  which  is  a 
great  deal  pleasanter  and  easier,  and  therefore  quite  right. 

So  Ellie  and  he  were  walking  on  the  rocks,  and  he 
was  showing  her  about  one  in  ten  thousand  of  all  the 
beautiful  and  curious  things  which  are  to  be  seen  there. 
But  little  Ellie  was  not  satisfied  with  them  at  all.  She 
liked  much  better  to  play  with  live  children,  or  even 
with  dolls,  which  she  could  pretend  were  alive  ;  and  at 
last  she  said  honestly,  "I  don't  care  about  all  these 
things,  because  they  can't  play  with  me,  or  talk  to 
me.  If  there  were  little  children  now  in  the  water,  as 
there  used  to  be,  and  I  could  see  them,  I  should  like 
that." 

"Children  in  the  water,  you  strange  little  duck?" 
said  the  professor. 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


12? 


"Yes,"  said  Ellie.     " I  know  there  used  to  be  chil- 
dren in  the  water,  and  mermaids  too,  and  mermen.     I 


saw  them  all  in  a  picture  at  home,  of  a  beautiful  lady 
sailing   in  a  car  drawn  by  dolphins,  and  babies  flying 


128  .    THE   WATER-BABIES. 

round  her,  and  one  sitting  in  her  lap  ;  and  the  mer- 
maids swimming  and  playing,  and  the  mermen  trum- 
peting on  conch-shells  ;  and  it  is  called  'The  Triumph 
of  Galatea  ; '  and  there  is  a  burning  mountain  in  the 
picture  behind.  It  hangs  on  the  great  staircase,  and 
I  have  looked  at  it  ever  since  I  was  a  baby,  and  dreamt 
about  it  a  hundred  times  ;  and  it  is  so  beautiful  that  it 
must  be  true." 

But  the  professor  had  not  the  least  notion  of  allowing 
that  things  were  true,  merely  because  people  thought 
them  beautiful.  For  at  that  rate,  he  said,  the  Baltas 
•would  be  quite  right  in  thinking  it  a  fine  thing  to  eat 
their  grandpapas,  because  they  thought  it  an  ugly 
thing  to  put  them  underground.  The  professor,  indeed, 
went  further,  and  held  that  no  man  was  forced  to  be- 
lieve anything  to  be  true  but  what  he  could  see,  hear, 
taste,  or  handle. 

He  held  very  strange  theories  about  a  good  many 
things.  He  had  even  got  up  once  at  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, and  declared  that  apes  had  hippopotamus  majors 
in  their  brains  just  as  men  have.  Which  was  a  shock- 
ing thing  to  say  ;  for,  if  it  were  so,  what  would  become 
of  the  faith,  hope,  and  charity  of  immortal  millions? 
You  may  think  that  there  are  other  more  important 
differences  between  you  and  an  ape,  such  as  being  able 
to  speak,  and  make  machines,  and  know  right  from 
wrong,  and  say  your  prayers,  and  other  little  matters 
of  that  kind  ;  but  that  is  a  child's  fancy,  my  dear. 
Nothing  is  to  be  depended  on  but  the  great  hippopot- 
amus test.  If  you  have  a  hippopotamus  major  in  your 
brain,  you  are  no  ape,  though  you  had  four  hands,  no 
feet,  and  were  more  apish  than  the  apes  of  all  aperies. 
But  if  a  hippopotamus  major  is  ever  discovered  in  one 
single  ape's  brain,  nothing  will  save  your  great-great- 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 29 

great  -  great  -  great  -  great  -  great  -  great-  great  -  great-great- 
greater-greatest-grandmother  from  having  been  an  ape 
too.  No,  my  dear  little  man  ;  always  remember  that 
the  one  true,  certain,  final,  and  all-important  difference 
between  you  and  an  ape  is  that  you  have  a  hippopot- 
amus major  in  your  brain,  and  it  has  none  ;  and  thatr 
therefore,  to  discover  one  in  its  brain  will  be  a  very 
wrong  and  dangerous  thing,  at  which  every  one  will  be 
very  much  shocked,  as  we  may  suppose  they  were  at  the 
professor.  Though  really,  after  all,  it  don't  much  mat- 
ter;  because — as  Lord  Dundreary  and  others  would  put 
it — nobody  but  men  have  hippopotamuses  in  their 
brains  ;  so,  if  a  hippopotamus  was  discovered  in  an 
ape's  brain,  why  it  would  not  be  one,  you  know,  but 
something  else. 

But  the  professor  had  gone,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  even 
further  than  that  ;  for  he  had  read  at  the  British  Associa- 
tion at  Melbourne,  Australia,  in  the  year  1999,  a  paper 
which  assured  every  one  who  found  himself  the  better 
or  wiser  for  the  news,  that  there  were  not,  never  had 
been,  and  could  not  be,  any  rational  or  half-rational 
beings  except  men,  anywhere,  anywhen,  or  anyhow ; 
that  nymphs,  satyrs,  fatins,  inui,  dwarfs,  trolls,  elves, 
gnomes,  fairies,  brownies,  nixes,  wilts,  kobolds,  lepre- 
channes,  chiricaunes,  banshees,  will-d*  -the-zvisps,  follets, 
latins,  magots,  goblins,  afrits,  marids,  jinns,  ghouls, 
peris,  deevs,  angels,  archangels,  imps,  bogies,  or  worse, 
were  nothing  at  all,  and  pure  bosh  and  wind.  And 
he  had  to  get  up  very  early  in  the  morning  to  prove 
that,  and  to  eat  his  breakfast  overnight  ;  but  he  did  it, 
at  least  to  his  own  satisfaction.  Whereon  a  certain 
great  divine,  and  a  very  clever  divine  was  he,  called 
him  a  regular  Sadducee  ;  and  probably  he  was  quite 
right.      Whereon  the  professor,   in  return,    called  him 


130  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

a  regular  Pharisee  ;  and  probably  he  was  quite  right,  too. 
But  they  did  not  quarrel  in  the  least ;  for,  when  men  are 
men  of  the  world,  hard  words  run  off  them  like  water 
pff  a  duck's  back.  So  the  professor  and  the  divine  met 
at  dinner  that  evening,  and  sat  together  on  the  sofa 
afterwards  for  an  hour,  and  talked  over  the  state  of 
female  labor  on  the  antarctic  continent  (for  nobody  talks 
shop  after  his  claret),  and  each  vowed  that  the  other  was 
the  best  company  he  ever  met  in  his  life.  What  an 
advantage  it  is  to  be  men  of  the  world  ! 

From  all  which  you  may  guess  that  the  professor  was 
not  the  least  of  little  Ellie's  opinion.  So  he  gave  her  a 
succinct  compendium  of  his  famous  paper  at  the  British 
Association,  in  a  form  suited  for  the  youthful  mind. 
But,  as  we  have  gone  over  his  arguments  against  water- 
babies  once  already,  which  is  once  too  often,  we  will  not 
repeat  them  here. 

Now  little  Ellie  was,  I  suppose,  a  stupid  little  girl ; 
for,  instead  of  being  convinced  by  Professor  Ptthmllu- 
sprts'  arguments,  she  only  asked  the  same  question  over 
again. 

' '  But  why  are  there  not  water-babies?  " 

I  trust  and  hope  that  it  was  because  the  professor  trod 
at  that  moment  on  the  edge  of  a  very  sharp  mussel,  and 
hurt  one  of  his  corns  sadly,  that  he  answered  quite 
sharply,  forgetting  that  he  was  a  scientific  man,  and 
therefore  ought  to  have  known  that  he  couldn't  know; 
and  that  he  was  a  logician,  and  therefore  ought  to  have 
known  that  he  could  not  prove  a  universal  negative — ■ 
I  say,  I  trust  and  hope  it  was  because  the  mussel  hurt 
his  corn  that  the  professor  answered  quite  sharply  : 

u  Because  there  ain't." 

Which  was  not  even  good  English,  my  dear  little  boy  ; 
for,  as  you  must  know  from  Aunt  Agitate' s  Arguments, 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  131 

the  professor  ought  to  have  said,  if  he  was  so  angry  as  10 
say  anything  of  the  kind — Because  there  are  not :  or  are 
none  :  or  are  none  of  them  :  or  (if  he  had  been  reading 
Aunt  Agitate  too)  because  they  do  not  exist. 

And  he  groped  with  his  net  under  the  weeds  so  vio- 
lently that,  as  it  befell,  he  caught  poor  little  Tom. 

He  felt  the  net  very  heavy  ;  and  lifted  it  out  quickly,, 
with  Tom  all  entangled  in  the  meshes. 

u  Dear  me!"  he  cried.  "  What  a  large  pink  Holo- 
thurian  ;  what  hands,  too !  It  must  be  connected  with 
Synapta." 

And  he  took  him  out. 

"  It  has  actually  eyes  !  "  he  cried.  "  Why,  it  must  be 
a  Cephalopod  !     This  is  most  extraordinary  !  " 

"  No,  I  ain't !  "  cried  Tom,  as  loud  as  he  could  ;  for 
he  did  not  like  to  be  called  bad  names. 

"It  is  a  water-baby!"  cried  Ellie ;  and  of  course  it 
was. 

"Water-fiddlesticks,  my  dear!"  said  the  professor; 
and  he  turned  away  sharply. 

There  was  no  denying  it.  It  was  a  water-baby  :  and 
he  had  said  a  moment  ago  that  there  were  none.  What 
was  he  to  do? 

He  would  have  liked,  of  course,  to  have  taken  Tom 
home  in  a  bucket.  He  would  not  have  put  him  in  spirits. 
Of  course  not.  He  would  have  kept  him  alive,  and 
petted  him  (for  he  was  a  very  kind  old  gentleman),  and. 
written  a  book  about  him,  and  given  him  two  long 
names,  of  which  the  first  would  have  said  a  little  about 
Tom,  and  the  second  all  about  himself;  for  of  course  he 
would  have  called  him  Hydrotecnon  Ptthmlinsprtsianum, 
or  some  other  long  name  like  that ;  for  they  are  forced 
to  call  everything  by  long  names  now,  because  they  have 
used  up  all  the  short  ones,  ever  since  they  took  to  making 


132  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

nine  species  out  of  one.  But — what  would  all  the 
learned  men  say  to  him  after  his  speech  at  the  British 
Association?  And  what  would  Ellie  say,  after  what  he 
had  just  told  her? 

There  was  a  wise  old  heathen  once,  who  said,  ' '  Maxima 
debetur  pueris  reverentia" — The  greatest  reverence  is 
due  to  children  ;  that  is,  that  grown  people  should  never 
say  or  do  anything  wrong  before  children,  lest  they 
should  set  them  a  bad  example.  Cousin  Cramchild 
says  it  means,  "The  greatest  respectfulness  is  expected 
from  little  boys. "  But  he  was  raised  in  a  country  where 
little  boys  are  not  expected  to  be  respectful,  because  all 
of  them  are  as  good  as  the  President  : — Well,  every  one 
knows  his  own  concerns  best ;  so  perhaps  they  are.  But 
poor  Cousin  Cramchild,  to  do  him  justice,  not  being  of 
that  opinion,  and  having  a  moral  mission,  and  being  na 
scholar  to  speak  of,  and  hard  up  for  an  authority — why, 
it  was  a  very  great  temptation  for  him.  But  some  people, 
and  I  am  afraid  the  professor  was  one  of  them,  interpret 
that  in  a  more  strange,  curious,  one-sided,  left-handed, 
topsy-turvy,  inside  out,  behind-before  fashion  than  even 
Cousin  Cramchild ;  for  they  make  it  mean  that  you 
must  show  your  respect  for  children  by  never  confessing 
yourself  in  the  wrong  to  them,  even  if  you  know  that 
you  are  so,  lest  they  should  lose  confidence  in  their 
elders. 

Now,  if  the  professor  had  said  to  Ellie,  "  Yes,  my  dar- 
ling, it  is  a  water-baby,  and  a  very  wonderful  thing  it  is  ; 
and  it  shows  how  little  I  know  of  the  wonders  of  nature, 
in  spite  of  forty  years'  honest  labor.  I  was  just  telling  you 
that  there  could  be  no  such  creatures  ;  and,  behold !  here 
is  one  come  to  confound  my  conceit  and  show  me  that 
Nature  can  do,  and  has  done,  beyond  all  that  man's 
poor  fancy  can  imagine.     So,  let  us  thank  the  Maker. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR    A    LAND-BABY. 


*33 


the  Inspirer,  the  Lord  of  Nature,  for  all  His  wonderful 
and  glorious  works,  and  try  and  find  out  something 
about  this  one  ;  " — I  think  that,  if  the  professor  had  said 


that,  little  Ellie  would  have  believed  him  more  firmly,, 
and  respected  him  more  deeply,  and  loved  him  better 
than  ever  she  had  done  before.     But  he  was  of  a  dif- 


134  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

ferent  opinion.  He  hesitated  a  moment.  He  longed 
to  keep  Tom,  and  yet  lie  half  wished  that  he  never  had 
caught  him  ;  and  at  last  he  quite  longed  to  get  rid  of 
him.  So  he  turned  away  and  poked  Tom  with  his 
finger,  for  want  of  anything  better  to  do  ;  and  said  care- 
lessly, "My  dear  little  maid,  you  must  have  dreamt 
of  water-babies  last  night,  your  head  is  so  full  of 
them." 

Now  Tom  had  been  in  the  most  horrible  and  unspeak- 
able fright  all  the  while ;  and  had  kept  as  quiet  as  he 
could,  though  he  was  called  a  Holothurian  and  a  Ceph- 
alopod ;  for  it  was  fixed  in  his  little  head  that  if  a  man 
with  clothes  on  caught  him,  he  might  put  clothes  on 
him,  too,  and  make  a  dirty  black  chimney-sweep  of  him 
again.  But,  when  the  professor  poked  him,  it  was  more 
than  he  could  bear;  and,  between  fright  and  rage,  he 
turned  to  bay  as  valiantly  as  a  mouse  in  a  corner,  and 
bit  the  professor's  finger  till  it  bled. 

"  Oh  !  ah  !  yah  !  "  cried  he  ;  and  glad  of  an  excuse 
to  be  rid  of  Tom,  dropped  him  on  to  the  seaweed,  and 
thence  he  dived  into  the  water  and  was  gone  in  a 
moment. 

"But  it  was  a  water-baby,  and  I  heard  it  speak  !  " 
cried  Ellie.  "Ah,  it  is  gone  !  "  And  she  jumped  down 
off  the  rock  to  try  and  catch  Tom  before  he  slipped  into 
the  sea. 

Too  late  !  and  what  was  worse,  as  she  sprang  down, 
she  slipped,  and  fell  some  six  feet  with  her  head  on  a 
sharp  rock,  and  lay  quite  still. 

The  professor  picked  her  up,  and  tried  to  waken  her, 
and  called  to  her,  and  cried  over  her,  for  he  loved  her 
very  much  :  but  she  would  not  waken  at  all.  So  he 
took  her  up  in  his  arms  and  carried  her  to  her  governess, 
and  they  all  went  home  ;  and  little  Ellie  was  put  to  bed, 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  1 35 

and  lay  there  quite  still  ;  only  now  and  then  she  woke 
up  and  called  out  about  the  water-baby  :  but  no  one 
knew  what  she  meant,  and  the  professor  did  not  tell, 
for  he  was  ashamed  to  tell. 

And,  after  a  week,  one  moonlight  night,  the  fairies 
came  flying  in  at  the  window  and  brought  her  such  a 
pretty  pair  of  wings  that  she  could  not  help  putting 
them  on  ;  and  she  flew  with  them  out  of  the  window, 
and  over  the  land,  and  over  the  sea,  and  up  through 
the  clouds,  and  nobody  heard  or  saw  anything  of  her 
for  a  very  long  while. 

And  this  is  why  they  say  that  no  one  has  ever  yet 
seen  a  water-baby.  For  my  part,  I  believe  that  the 
naturalists  get  dozens  of  them  when  they  are  out  dredg- 
ing ;  but  they  say  nothing  about  them,  and  throw  them 
overboard  again,  for  fear  of  spoiling  their  theories. 
But,  you  see,  the  professor  was  found  out,  as  every  one 
is  in  due  time.  A  very  terrible  old  fairy  found  the  pro- 
fessor out ;  she  felt  his  bumps,  and  cast  his  nativity, 
and  took  the  lunars  of  him  carefully  inside  and  out ; 
and  so  she  knew  what  he  would  do  as  well  as  if  she 
had  seen  it  in  a  print  book,  as  they  say  in  the  dear  old 
west  country  ;  and  he  did  it  ;  and  so  he  was  found  out 
beforehand,  as  everybody  always  is  ;  and  the  old  fairy 
will  find  out  the  naturalists  some  day,  and  put  them  in 
the  Times,  and  then'  on  whose  side  will  the  laugh  be  ? 

So  the  old  fairy  took  him  in  hand  very  severely  there 
and  then.  But  she  says  she  is  always  most  severe  with 
the  best  people,  because  there  is  most  chance  of  curing 
them,  and  therefore  they  are  the  patients  who  pay  her 
best ;  for  she  has  to  work  on  the  same  salary  as  the  Em- 
peror of  China's  physicians  (it  is  a  pity  that  all  do  not), 
no  cure,  no  pay. 

So  she  took  the  poor  professor  in  hand  :  and  because 


136  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

he  was  not  content  with  things  as  they  are,  she  filled 
his  head  with  things  as  they  are  not,  to  try  if  he  would 
like  them  better  ;  and  because  he  did  not  choose  to  be- 
lieve in  a  water-baby  when  he  saw  it,  she  made  him  be- 
lieve in  worse  things  than  water-babies — in  unicorns, 
fire-drakes,  maiiticoras,  basilisks,  a?nphisbce?ias,  griffins, 
phoenixes,  rocs,  ores,  dog-headed  men,  three-headed  dogs, 
three-bodied geryons,  and  other  pleasant  creatures,  which 
folks  think  never  existed  yet,  and  which  folks  hope 
never  will  exist,  though  they  know  nothing  about  the 
matter,  and  never  will ;  and  these  creatures  so  upset, 
terrified,  flustered,  aggravated,  confused,  astounded,  hor- 
rified, and  totally  flabbergasted  the  poor  professor  that 
the  doctors  said  that  he  was  out  of  his  wits  for  three 
months ;  and  perhaps  they  were  right,  as  they  are  now 
and  then. 

So  all  the  doctors  in  the  county  were  called  in  to  make 
a  report  on  his  case  ;  and,  of  course,  every  one  of  them 
flatly  contradicted  the  other :  else  what  use  is  there  in 
being  a  man  of  science  ?  But  at  last  the  majority  agreed 
on  a  report  in  the  true  medical  language,  one-half  bad 
Latin,  the  other  half  worse  Greek,  and  the  rest  what 
might  have  been  English,  if  they  had  only  learnt  to 
write  it.     And  this  is  the  beginning  thereof — 

"  The  subanhypaposnpcrnal  anastomoses  of  peritomic  dia~ 
cellurite  in  the  encephalo  digital  region  of  the  distinguished 
individual  of  whose  symptomatic  phcenomena  we  had  the 
melancholy  honor  [subsequently  to  a  preliminary  diagnostic 
inspection)  of  making  an  inspectorial  diagnosis,  presenting  the 
inter  exclusively  quadrilateral  and  antviomian  diathesis  known 
as  Bumpsterhausen 's  bine  follicles,  zve  proceeded" — 

But  what  they  proceeded  to  do  My  Lady  never  knew  ; 
for  she  was  so  frightened  at  the  long  words  that  she  ran 
for  her  life,   and  locked  herself  into  her   bedroom,   foi 


A   FAIRY  TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  137 

fear  of  being  squashed  by  the  words  and  strangled  by 
the  sentence.  A  boa  constrictor,  she  said,  was  bad 
company  enough  :  but  what  was  a  boa  constrictor  made 
of  paving  stones? 

"  It  was  quite  shocking  !  What  can  they  think  is  the 
matter  with  him  ?  "  said  she  to  the  old  nurse. 

"That  his  wit's  just  addled  ;  may  be  wi'  unbelief  and 
heathenry,"  quoth  she. 

"  Then  why  can't  they  say  so?  " 

And  the  heaven,  and  the  sea,  and  the  rocks,  and  the 
vales  re-echoed — "Why,  indeed?"  But  the  doctors 
never  heard  them. 

So  she  made  Sir  John  write  to  the  Times,  to  command 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for  the  time  being  to 
put  a  tax  on  long  words  : 

A  light  tax  on  words  over  three  syllables,  which  are 
necessary  evils,  like  rats  :  but,  like  them,  must  be  kept 
down  judiciously. 

A  heavy  tax  on  words  over  four  syllables,  as  hetero- 
doxy, spontaneity,  spiritualism,  spuriosity ,  etc. 

And  on  words  over  five  syllables  (of  which  I  hope  no 
one  will  wish  to  see  any  examples),  a  totally  prohibitory 
tax. 

And  a  similar  prohibitory  tax  on  words  derived  from 
three  or  more  languages  at  once  ;  words  derived  from  two 
languages  having  become  so  common  that  there  was  no 
more  hope  of  rooting  out  them  than  of  rooting  out  peth* 
winds. 

The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  being  a  scholar  and 
a  man  of  sense,  jumped  at  the  notion  ;  for  he  saw  in  it 
the  one  and  only  plan  for  abolishing  Schedule  D  :  but 
when  he  brought  in  his  bill,  most  of  the  Irish  members, 
and  (I  am  sorry  to  say)  some  of  the  Scotch  likewise, 
opposed  it  most  strongly,  on  the  ground  that  in  a  free 

7r.'-  //  "ater-Babies 


138  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

country  no  man  was  bound  either  to  understand  himself 
or  to  let  others  understand  him.  So  the  bill  fell  through 
on  the  first  reading ;  and  the  Chancellor,  being  a  philos- 
opher, comforted  himself  with  the  thought  that  it  was 
not  the  first  time  that  a  woman  had  hit  off  a  grand  idea 
and  the  men  turned  up  their  stupid  noses  thereat. 

Now  the  doctors  had  it  all  their  own  way  ;  and  to  work 
they  went  in  earnest,  and  they  gave  the  poor  professor 
divers  and  sundry  medicines,  as  prescribed  by  the  an- 
cients and  moderns,  from  Hippocrates  to  Feuchtersleben, 
as  below,  viz.: 

1.  Hellebore,  to  wit — • 

Hellebore  of  AZta. 

Hellebore  of  Galatia. 

Hellebore  of  Sicily. 

And  all  other  Hellebores,  after  the  method  of 
the  Helleborizing  Helleborisis  of  the  Helleborit 
era.  But  that  zvoidd  not  do.  Bumpster- 
hauserCs  bine  follicles  would  not  stir  an  inch 
out  of  las  encephalo  digital  region. 

2.  frying  to  find  out  what  was  the  matter  with  him^ 
after  the  method  of 

Hippocrates 

Aretceus, 

Celsus, 

Coelius  Aitrelianus, 

A? id  Galen. 

But  they  found  that  a  great  deal  too  much  trouble, 
*s  moU  people  have  since  •  and  so  had  recourse  to— 

3.  Borage. 
Cauteries, 


A   FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  1 39 


Boring  a  hole  in  his  head  to  let  out  fumes,  whicfe 
(says  Gordonius)  "will,  without  doubt,  do  much  good." 
But  it  didn't. 

Bezoar  stone. 

Diamargaritum. 

A  rain's  brain  boiled  in  spice* 

Oil  of  wormwood. 

Water  of  Nile. 

Capers. 

Good  wine  [but  there  was  none  to  be  £?£)• 

The  water  of  a  smith's  forge. 

Hops. 

Ambergris. 

Mandrake  pillows. 

Dormouse  fat. 

Hares'  ears. 

Starvation. 

Camphor. 

Salts  and  semia. 

Musk. 

Opium. 

Strait-waistcoats. 

Bullyings. 

Bumpings. 

Blisterings. 

Bleedings. 

Bucketings  with  cold  water. 

Knockings  down. 

Kneeling  on  his  chest  till  they  broke  it  in%  ete*9 
etc.;  after  the  mediceval  or  monkish  method: 
but  that  woidd  not  do.  Bumpsterhauseri s  blue 
follicles  stuck  there  still. 


140  THE  WATER-BABIES- 

Then— 

4.  Coaxing. 
Kissing, 
CJiampagne  and  turtle. 

Red  herrings  and  soda  water* 

Good  advice. 

Gardeiring. 

Croquet. 

Musical  soirees* 

Aunt  Sally* 

Mild  tobacco* 

The  Saturday  Review. 

A  carriage  with  outriders,  etc*,  etc* 

After  the  modern  method.     But  that  would  not  do. 

And  if  he  had  but  been  a  convict  lunatic,  and  had 
shot  at  the  Queen,  killed  all  his  creditors  to  avoid  pay- 
ing them,  or  indulged  in  any  other  little  amiable  eccen- 
tricity of  that  kind,  they  would  have  given  him  in 
addition — 

The  healthiest  situation  in  England,  on  Easthamr> 
stead  Plain. 

Free  run  of  Windsor  Forest. 

The  Times  every  morning. 

A  double-barrelled  gun  and  pointers,  and  leave  to 
shoot  three  Wellington  College  boys  a  week  (not  more) 
in  case  black  game  was  scarce. 

But  as  he  was  neither  mad  enough  nor  bad  enough  to 
be  allowed  such  luxuries,  they  grew  desperate,  and  fell 
into  bad  ways,  viz. : 

5.  Svffumigations  of  sulphur. 

Herrwiggius  his  "  Incomparable  drink  for  ?naa* 
men  ;  " 


A   FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  141 

Only  they  could  not  find  out  what  it  was. 

Suffumigation  of  the  liver  of  the  fish  *  *  * 

Only  they  had  forgotten  its  name,  so  Dr.  Gray  could 
not  well  procure  them  a  specimen. 

Metallic  tractors. 
Hollowafs  Ointment. 
Electro-biology. 

Valentine  Greatrakes  his  Stroking  Cure* 
Spirit-rapping. 
Hollozvafs  Pills. 
Table -turning. 
Morisoris  Pills. 
Homceopathy. 
Parr's  Life  Pills. 
Mesmerism. 
Pure  Bosh. 

Exorcisms  for  which  they  read Malezis  Malefic^**?* 
Nideri  Formicariumt  Delrio,  Wierus,  etc. 

But  could  not  get  one  that  mentioned  water-babies, 

Hydropathy. 

Madame  Rachel's  Elixir  of  Youth. 

The  Poughkeepsie  Seer  his  Prophecies. 

T7ie  distilled  liqnor  of  diddle  eggs. 

Pyropathy. 

As  successfully  employed  by  the  old  inquisitor!  «te 
cure  the  malady  of  thought,  and  now  by  tne  Persia 
Mollahs  to  cure  that  of  rheumatism. 


142  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

Geopathy,  or  burying  him. 

Atmopathy,  or  steaming  him. 

Sympathy,  after  the  method  of  Basil  Valentine 
his  Triumph  of  Antimony,  and  Kenelm  Digby 
his  Weapon-slave ,  zvliich  some  call  a  hair  of  the 
dog  that  bit  him. 

Hermopathy,  or  pouring  mercury  down  his  throat 
to  move  the  animal  spirits. 

Meteoropatliy,  or  going  up  to  the  moon  to  look  for 
his  lost  wits,  as  Ruggiero  did  for  Orlando 
Furiosi s  :  only,  having  no  hippogriff,  they  were 
forced  to  use  a  balloon;  and,  falli7ig  into  the 
North  Sea,  were  picked  up  by  a  Yarmouth 
herri?ig-boat,  and  came  home  much  the  wiser, 
and  all  over  scales. 

Antipathy,  or  using  him  like  "a  man  and  a 
brother" 

Apathy,  or  doing  nothing  at  all. 

With  all  other  ipathies  and  opathies  which  Noodle 
has  invented,  and  Foodie  tried,  since  black- 
fellows  chipped  flints  at  Abbeville — which  is  a 
considerable  time  ago,  to  judge  by  the  Great 
Ex/iibition. 

But  nothing  would  do  ;  for  he  screamed  and  cried 
all  day  for  a  water- baby  to  come  and  drive  away  the 
monsters  ;  and  of  course  they  did  not  try  to  find  one,  be- 
cause they  did  not  believe  in  them,  and  were  thinking 
of  nothing  but  Bumpsterhausen's  blue  follicles ;  having, 
as  usual,  set  the  cart  before  the  horse,  and  taken  the 
effect  for  the  cause. 

So  they  were  forced  at  last  to  let  the  poor  professor 
case  his  mind  by  writing  a  great  book,  exactly  contrary 
to  all  his  old  opinions  ;  in  which  he  proved  that  the  moon 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


H3 


was  made  of  green  cheese,  and  that  all  the  mites  in  it 
(which  you  may  see  sometimes  quite  plain  through  a 
telescope,  if  you  will  only  keep  the  lens  dirty  enough, 
p«  Mr.  Weekes  kept  his  voltaic  battery)  are  nothing  in 


the  world  but  little  babies,  who  are  hatching  and  swarm* 
ing  up  there  in  millions,  ready  to  come  down  into  this 
world  whenever  children  want  a  new  little  brother  or 
•ister. 


144  THH   WATER-BABIES. 

Which  must  be  a  mistake,  for  this  one  reason  :  that, 
there  being  no  atmosphere  round  the  moon  (though 
some  one  or  other  says  there  is,  at  least  on  the  other 
side,  and  that  he  has  been  round  at  the  back  of  it  to  see, 
and  found  that  the  moon  was  just  the  shape  of  a  Bath 
bun,  and  so  wet  that  the  man  in  the  moon  went  about 
on  Midsummer-day  in  Mackintoshes  and  Cording's 
boots,  spearing  eels  and  sneezing)  ;  that,  therefore,  I  say, 
there  being  no  atmosphere,  there  can  be  no  evaporation  ; 
and,  therefore,  the  dew-point  can  never  fall  below  71*5° 
below  zero  or  Fahrenheit  ;  and,  therefore,  it  cannot  be 
cold  enough  there  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  to 
condense  the  babies'  mesenteric  apophthegms  into  their 
left  ventricles  ;  and,  therefore,  they  can  never  catch  the 
hooping-cough  ;  and,  if  they  do  not  have  hooping-cough, 
they  cannot  be  babies  at  all  ;  and,  therefore,  there  are 
no  babies  in  the  moon. — Q.  E.  D. 

Which  may  seem  a  roundabout  reason  ;  and  so,  per- 
Laps,  it  is  :  but  you  will  have  heard  worse  ones  in  your 
f ime,  and  from  better  men  than  you  are. 

But  one  thing  is  certain  ;  that,  when  the  good  old 
doctor  got  his  book  written,  he  felt  considerably  relieved 
from  Bumpsterhausen's  blue  follicles  ;  and  a  few  things 
infinitely  worse  ;  to  wit,  from  pride  and  vain-glory,  and 
from  blindness  and  hardness  of  heart  ;  which  are  the 
true  causes  of  Bumpsterhausen's  blue  follicles,  and  of  a 
good  many  other  ugly  things  besides.  Whereon  the 
foul  flood-water  in  his  brains  ran  down,  and  cleared  to  a 
fine  coffee  color,  such  as  fish  like  to  rise  in:  till  very  fine 
clean  fresh-run  fish  did  begin  to  rise  in  his  brains ;  and 
he  caught  two  or  three  of  them  (which  is  exceedingly 
fine  sport  for  brain  rivers),  and  anatomized  them  care- 
fully, and  never  mentioned  what  he  found  out  from 
then;,  except  to  little  children  ;  and  became  ever  after  a 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


145 


sadder  and  a  wiser  man  ;  which  is  a  very  good  thing  to 
become,  my  dear  little  boy,  even  though  one  has  to  pay 
a  heavy  price  for  the  blessing. 


"Stern  Lawgiver  !  yet  thou  dost  wear 

The  Godhead's  most  benignant  grace; 
Nor  know  we  anything  so  fair 

As  is  the  smile  upon  thy  face : 
Flowers  laugh  before  thee  on  their  beds, 
And  fragrance  in  thy  footing  treads ; 
Thou  dost  preserve  the  stars  from  wrong ; 
And  the  most  ancient  heavens,  through  Thee, 
are  fresh  and  strong." 

Wordsworth,  Ode  to  Duty. 


CHAPTER   ST. 


UT  what  became 
of  little  Tom  ? 

He  slipped  away 
off  the  rocks  into 
the  water,  as  I  said 
before.  But  he 
could  not  help 
thinking  of  little 
Ellie.  He  did  not 
remember  who  she 
was  ;  but  he  knew 
that  she  was  a  little 
girl,  though  she 
was  a  hundred 
times  as  big  as  he. 
That  is  not  sur- 
prising :  size  has 
nothing  to  do  with 
kindred.  A  tiny 
weed  may  be  first 
cousin  to  a  great  tree ;  and  a  little  dog  like  Vick  knows 
that  Lioness  is  a  dog,  too,  though  she  is  twenty  times 
larger  than  herself.  So  Tom  knew  that  Ellie  was  a 
little  girl,  and  thought  about  her  all  that  day,  and 
(146) 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 47 

longed  to  have  had  her  to  play  with  ;  but  he  had  very 
soon  to  think  of  something  else.  And  here  is  the  ac- 
count of  what  happened  to  him,  as  it  was  published 
next  morning  in  the  Waterproof  Gazette,  on  the  finest 
watered  paper,  for  the  use  of  the  great  fairy,  Mrs.  Be- 
donebyasyoudid,  who  reads  the  news  very  carefully 
every  morning,  and  especially  the  police  cases,  as  you 
will  hear  very  soon. 

He  was  going  along  the  rocks  in  three-fathom  water, 
watching  the  pollock  catch  prawns,  and  the  wrasses 
nibble  barnacles  off  the  rocks,  shells  and  all,  when  he 
saw  a  round  cage  of  green  withes  ;  and  inside  it,  look- 
ing very  much  ashamed  of  himself,  sat  his  friend  the 
lobster,  twiddling  his  horns,  instead  of  thumbs. 

"What,  have  you  been  naughty,  and  have  they  put 
you  in  the  lock-up?"  asked  Tom. 

The  lobster  felt  a  little  indignant  at  such  a  notion, 
but  he  was  too  much  depressed  in  spirits  to  argue  ;  so 
he  only  said,  "  I  can't  get  out." 
Why  did  you  get  in  ?  " 

'After  that  nasty  piece  of  dead  fish. ' '  He  had  thought 
it  looked  and  smelt  very  nice  when  he  was  outside,  and 
so  it  did,  for  a  lobster :  but  now  he  turned  round  ancl 
abused  it  because  he  was  angry  with  himself. 

" Where  did  you  get  in?" 

"  Through  that  round  hole  at  the  top." 

1 '  Then  why  don't  you  get  out  through  it?  " 

"Because  I  can't;"  and  the  lobster  twiddled  his 
horns  more  fiercely  than  ever,  but  he  was  forced  to 
confess. 

"I  have  jumped  upwards,  downwards,  backwards, 
and  sideways,  at  least  four  thousand  times  ;  and  I  can't 
get  out  :  I  always  get  up  underneath  there,  and  can't 
find  the  hole," 


u 
u 


I48  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

Tom  looked  at  the  trap,  and,  having  more  wit  than 
the  lobster,  he  saw  plainly  enough  what  was  the  matter ; 
as  you  may  if  you  will  look  at  a  lobster-pot. 

11  Stop  a  bit,"  said  Tom.  "Turn  your  tail  up  to  me, 
and  I'll  pull  you  through  hindforemost,  and  then  you 
won't  stick  in  the  spikes." 

But  the  lobster  was  so  stupid  and  clumsy  that  he 
couldn't  hit  the  hole.  Like  a  great  many  fox-hunters, 
he  was  very  sharp  as  long  as  he  was  in  his  own 
country  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  get  out  of  it  they  lose 
their  heads  ;  and  so  the  lobster,  so  to  speak,  lost  his  tail. 

Tom  reached  and  clawed  down  the  hole  after  him, 
till  he  caught  hold  of  him  ;  and  then,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  the  clumsy  lobster  pulled  him  in  head  fore- 
most. 

"  Hullo  !  here  is  a  pretty  business,"  said  Tom.  "  Now 
take  your  great  claws,  and  break  the  points  off  those 
spikes,  and  then  we  shall  both  get  out  easily." 

u  Dear  me,  I  never  thought  of  that,"  said  the  lob- 
ster ;  "and  after  all  the  experience  of  life  that  I  have 
had  !  " 

You  see,  experience  is  of  very  little  good  unless  a 
man,  or  a  lobster,  has  wit  enough  to  make  use  of  it. 
For  a  good  many  people,  like  old  Polonius,  have  seen 
all  the  world,  and  yet  remain  little  better  than  children 
after  all. 

But  they  had  not  got  half  the  spikes  away  when  they 
saw  a  great  dark  cloud  over  them  :  and  lo,  and  behold, 
it  was  the  otter. 

How  she  did  grin  and  grin  when  she  saw  Tom. 
"  Yar  ! "  said  she,  "you  little  meddlesome  wretch,  I 
have  you  now  !  I  will  serve  you  out  for  telling  the 
salmon  where  I  was  !"  And  she  crawled  all  over  the 
pot  to  get  in. 


(H9) 


150  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

Tom  was  horribly  frightened,  and  still  more  frightened 
when  she  found  the  hole  in  the  top  and  squeezed  her- 
self right  down  through  it,  all  eyes  and  teeth.  But  no 
sooner  was  her  head  inside  than  valiant  Mr.  Lobster 
caught  her  by  the  nose  and  held  on. 

And  there  they  were  all  three  in  the  pot,  rolling  over 
and  over,  and  very  tight  packing  it  was.  And  the  lob- 
ster tore  at  the  otter,  and  the  otter  tore  at  the  lobster, 
and  both  squeezed  and  thumped  poor  Tom  till  he  had 
no  breath  left  in  his  body  ;  and  I  don't  know  what  would 
have  happened  to  him  if  he  had  not  at  last  got  on  the 
otter's  back,  and  safe  out  of  the  hole. 

He  was  right  glad  when  he  got  out  :  but  he  would 
not  desert  his  friend  who  had  saved  him  ;  and  the  first 
time  he  saw  his  tail  uppermost  he  caught  hold  of  it,  and 
pulled  with  all  his  might. 

But  the  lobster  would  not  let  go. 

"Come  along,"  said  Tom;  "don't  you  see  she  is 
dead  ?  "     And  so  she  was,  quite  drowned  and  dead. 

And  that  was  the  end  of  the  wicked  otter. 

But  the  lobster  would  not  let  go. 

"  Come  along,  you  stupid  old  stick-in-the-mud,"  cried 
Tom,  "or  the  fisherman  will  catch  you!"  And  that 
was  true,  for  Tom  felt  some  one  above  beginning  to  haul 
up  the  pot. 

But  the  lobster  would  not  let  go. 

Tom  saw  the  fisherman  haul  him  up  to  the  boat-side, 
and  thought  it  was  all  up  with  him.  But  when  Mr. 
Lobster  saw  the  fisherman,  he  gave  such  a  furious  and 
tremendous  snap  that  he  snapped  out  of  his  hand,  and 
out  of  the  pot,  and  safe  into  the  sea.  But  he  left  his 
knobbed  claw  behind  him  ;  for  it  never  came  into  his 
stupid  head  to  let  go,  after  all,  so  he.  just  shook  his 
claw  off  as  the  easier  method.     It  was  something  of  a 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


*5* 


bull,  that ;  but  you  must  know  the  lobster  was  au  Irish 
lobster,  and  was  hatched  off  Island  Magee  at  the  mouth 


of  Belfast  Lough. 


Tom  asked  the  lobster  why  he  never  thought  of 
letting  go.  He  said  very  determinedly  that  it  was  a  point 
of  honor  among  lobsters.     And  so  it  is,  as  the  Mayor  of 


152  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

Plymouth  found  out  once  to  his  cost — eight  or  nine  hun- 
dred years  ago,  of  course  ;  for  if  it  had  happened  lately 
it  would  be  personal  to  mention  it. 

For  one  day  he  was  so  tired  of  sitting  on  a  hard  chair, 
in  a  grand  furred  gown,  with  a  gold  chain  round  his 
neck,  hearing  one  policeman  after  another  come  in  and 
sing,  "What  shall  we  do  with  the  drunken  sailor,  so 
early  in  the  morning?"  and  answering  them  each  ex- 
actly alike  : 

"  Put  him  in  the  round-house  till  he  gets  sober,  so 
early  in  the  morning" — 

That,  when  it  was  over,  he  jumped  up,  and  played 
leap-frog  with  the  town-clerk  till  he  burst  his  buttons, 
and  then  had  his  luncheon,  and  burst  some  more  but- 
tons, and  then  said  :  "  It  is  a  low  spring-tide  ;  I  shall  go 
out  this  afternoon  and  cut  my  capers." 

Now  he  did  not  mean  to  cut  such  capers  as  you  eat 
with  boiled  mutton.  It  was  the  commandant  of  artil- 
lery at  Valetta  who  used  to  amuse  himself  with  cutting 
them,  and  who  stuck  upon  one  of  the  bastions  a  notice, 
"  No  one  allowed  to  cut  capers  here  but  me,"  which 
greatly  edified  the  midshipmen  in  port,  and  the  Maltese 
on  the  Nix  Manmare  stairs.  But  all  that  the  mavor 
meant  was  that  he  would  go  and  have  an  afternoon's  fun, 
like  any  schoolboy,  and  catch  lobsters  with  an  iron  hook. 

So  to  the  Mewstone  he  went,  and  for  lobsters  he 
looked.  And  when  he  came  to  a  certain  crack  in  the 
rocks  he  was  so  excited  that,  instead  of  putting  in  his 
hook,  he  put  in  his  hand  ;  and  Mr.  Lobster  was  at  home, 
and  caught  him  by  the  finger,  and  held  on. 

"Yah  !"  said  the  mayor,  and  pulled  as  hard  as  he 
dared  :  but  the  more  he  pulled,  the  more  the  lobster 
pinched,  till  he  was  forced  to  be  quiet. 

Then  he  tried  to  get  his  hook  in  with  his  other  hand  \ 
but  the  hole  was  too  narrow. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


153 


Then  he  pulled 


again  ; 


but  he  could  not  stand  the 


pam. 

Then  he  shouted  and  bawled  for  help  :  but  there  was 
no  one  nearer  him  than  the  men-of-war  inside  the  break- 
water. 

Then  he  began  to  turn  a  little  pale  ;  for  the  tide 
flowed,  and  still  the  lobster  held  on. 

Then  he  turned  quite  white  ;  for  the  tide  was  up  to 
his  knees,  and  still  the 
lobster  held  on. 

Then  he  thought  of 
cutting  off  his  finger  ; 
but  he  Avanted  two 
things  to  do  it  with — 


and 
had 


a  knife 


got 

o 


nei-  r 


courage 
and  he 
ther. 

Then  he  turned 
quite  yellow ;  for  the 
tide  was  up  to  his 
waist,  and  still  the 
lobster  held  on. 

Then  he  thought 
over  all  the  naughty 
things  he  ever  had 
done  ;  all  the  sand  which  he  had  put  in  the  sugar,  and 
the  sloe-leaves  in  the  tea,  and  the  water  in  the  treacle, 
and  the  salt  in  the  tobacco  (because  his  brother  was  a 
brewer,  and  a  man  must  help  his  own  kin). 

Then  he  turned  quite  blue  ;  for  the  tide  was  up  to  his 
breast,  and  still  the  lobster  held  on. 

Then,  I  have  no  doubt,  he  repented  fully  of  all  the 
said  naughty  things  which  he  had  done,  and  promised 
to  mend  his  life,  as  too  many  do  when  they  think  ther 

J  T —  U  'ate*  -Baited 


154  THH    WATER-BABIES. 

have  no  life  left  to  mend.  Whereby,  as  they  fancy, 
they  make  a  very  cheap  bargain.  But  the  old  fairy  with 
the  birch  rod  soon  undeceives  them. 

And  then  he  grew  all  colors  at  once,  and  turned  up  his 
eyes  like  a  duck  in  thunder  ;  for  the  water  was  up  to  his 
chin,  and  still  the  lobster  held  on. 

And  then  came  a  man-of-war's  boat  round  the  Mew- 
stone,  and  saw  his  head  sticking  up  out  of  the  water. 
One  said  it  was  a  keg  of  brandy,  and  another  that  it  was 
a  cocoanut,  and  another  that  it  was  a  buoy  loose,  and 
another  that  it  was  a  black  diver,  and  wanted  to  fire  at 
it,  which  would  not  have  been  pleasant  for  the  mayor  : 
but  just  then  such  a  yell  came  out  of  a  great  hole  in  the 
middle  of  it  that  the  midshipman  in  charge  guessed 
what  it  was,  and  bade  pull  up  to  it  as  fast  as  they  could. 
So  somehow  or  other  the  Jack-tars  got  the  lobster  out, 
and  set  the  mayor  free,  and  put  him  ashore  at  the  Bar- 
bican. He  never  went  lobster-catching  again  ;  and  we 
will  hope  he  put  no  more  salt  in  the  tobacco,  not  even  to 
sell  his  brother's  beer. 

And  that  is  the  story  of  the  Mayor  of  Plymouth,  which 
has  two  advantages — first,  that  of  being  quite  true  ; 
and,  second,  that  of  having  (as  folks  say  all  good  stories 
ought  to  have)  no  moral  whatsoever  ;  no  more,  indeed, 
has  any  part  of  this  book,  because  it  is  a  fairy  tale,  you 
know. 

And  now  happened  to  Tom  a  most  wonderful  thing  ; 
for  he  had  not  left  the  lobster  five  minutes  before  he 
came  upon  a  water-baby. 

A  real  live  water-baby,  sitting  on  the  white  sand,  very 
busy  about  a  little  point  of  rock.  And  when  it  saw  Tom 
it  looked  up  for  a  moment,  and  then  cried,  "Why,  you 
are  not  one  of  us.  You  are  a  new  baby  !  Oh,  how  de- 
lightful !  » 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  1 55 

And  it  ran  to  Tom,  and  Tom  ran  to  it,  and  they 
hugged  and  kissed  each  other  for  ever  so  long,  they  did 
not  know  why.  But  they  did  not  want  any  introduc- 
tions there  under  the  water. 

At  last  Tom  said,  "Oh,  where  have  you  been  all  this 
while  ?  I  have  been  looking  for  you  so  long,  and  I  have 
been  so  lonely." 

"We  have  been  here  for  days  and  days.  There  are 
hundreds  of  us  about  the  rocks.  How  was  it  you  did 
not  see  us,  or  hear  us  when  we  sing  and  romp  every 
evening  before  we  go  home?  " 

Tom  looked  at  the  baby  again,  and  then  he  said  : 

"Well,  this  is  wonderful!  I  have  seen  things  like 
you  again  and  again,  but  I  thought  you  were  shells  or 
sea-creatures.  I  never  took  you  for  water-babies  like 
myself." 

Now,  was  not  that  very  odd?  So  odd,  indeed,  that 
you  will,  no  doubt,  want  to  know  how  it  happened,  and 
why  Tom  could  never  find  a  water-baby  till  after  he  had 
got  the  lobster  out  of  the  pot.  And  if  you  will  read  this 
story  nine  times  over,  and  then  think  for  yourself,  you 
will  find  out  why.  It  is  not  good  for  little  boys  to  be 
told  everything,  and  never  to  be  forced  to  use  their  own 
wits.  They  would  learn,  then,  no  more  than  they  do  at 
Dr.  Dulcimer's  famous  suburban  establishment  for  the 
idler  members  of  the  youthful  aristocracy,  where  the 
masters  learn  the  lessons  and  the  boys  hear  them — which 
saves  a  great  deal  of  trouble — for  the  time  being. 

"  Now,"  said  the  baby,  "  come  and  help  me,  or  I  shall 
not  have  finished  before  my  brothers  and  sisters  come, 
and  it  is  time  to  go  home." 

What  shall  I  help  you  at  ?  " 

'At  this  poor  dear  little  rock  ;  a  great  clumsy  boulder 
came  rolling  by  in  the  last  storm  and  knocked  all  its 


u 


156  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

head  off  and  rubbed  off  all  its  flowers.  And  now  I  must 
plant  it  again  with  seaweeds,  and  coralline,  and  ane- 
mones, and  I  will  make  it  the  prettiest  little  rock-garden 
on  all  the  shore." 

So  they  worked  away  at  the  rock,  and  planted  it,  and 
smoothed  the  sand  down  round  it,  and  capital  fun  they 
had  till  the  tide  began  to  turn.  And  then  Tom  heard 
all  the  other  babies  coming,  laughing  and  singing  and 
shouting  and  romping  ;  and  the  noise  they  made  was 
just  like  the  noise  of  the  ripple.  So  he  knew  that  he 
had  been  hearing  and  seeing  the  water-babies  all  along  ; 
only  he  did  not  know  them,  because  his  eyes  and  ears 
were  not  opened. 

And  in  they  came,  dozens  and  dozens  of  them,  tome 
biogrer  than  Tom  and  some  smaller,  all  in  the  neatest 
little  white  bathing  dresses  ;  and  when  they  found  that 
he  was  a  new  baby,  they  hugged  him  and  kissed  him,  and 
then  put  him  in  the  middle  and  danced  round  him  on 
the  sand,  and  there  was  no  one  ever  so  happy  as  pool 
little  Tom. 

"  Now,  then,"  they  cried  all  at  once,  "we  must  come 
away  home,  we  must  come  away  home,  or  the  tide  will 
leave  us  dry.  We  have  mended  all  the  broken  seaweed, 
and  put  all  the  rock-pools  in  order,  and  planted  all  the 
shells  again  in  the  sand,  and  nobody  will  see  where  the 
ugly  storm  swept  in  last  week." 

And  this  is  the  reason  why  the  rock-pools  are  always 
so  neat  and  clean  ;  because  the  water-babies  come  in- 
shore after  every  storm  to  sweep  them  out,  and  comb 
them  down,  and  put  them  all  to  rights  again. 

Only  when  men  are  wasteful  and  dirty,  and  let  sewers 
run  into  the  sea  instead  of  putting  the  stuff  upon  the 
fields  like  thrifty,  reasonable  souls  ;  or  throw  herrings' 
heads  and   dead  dog-fish,  or  any  other  refuse,  into  the 


A   FAIRY   TALK    FOR   A    LAND-BABY.  1 57 

water  ;  or  in  any  way  make  a  mess  upon  the  clean  shore 
— there  the  water-babies  will  not  come,  sometimes  not 
for  hundreds  of  years  (for  they  cannot  abide  anything 
smelly  or  foul),  but  leave  the  sea-anemones  and  the  crabs 
to  clear  away  everything,  till  the  good  tidy  sea  has 
covered  up  all  the  dirt  in  soft  mud  and  clean  sand, 
where  the  water-babies  can  plant  live  cockles  and  whelks 
and  razor-shells  and  sea-cucumbers  and  golden-combs, 
and  make  a  pretty  live  garden  again,  after  man's  dirt 
is  cleared  away.  And  that,  I  suppose,  is  the  reason 
why  there  are  no  water-babies  at  any  watering-place 
which  I  have  ever  seen. 

And  where  is  the  home  of  the  water-babies  ?  In  St. 
Brandan's  fairy  isle. 

Did  you  never  hear  of  the  blessed  St.  Brandan,  how 
he  preached  to  the  wild  Irish  on  the  wild,  wild  Kerry 
coast,  he  and  five  other  hermits,  till  they  were  weary 
and  longed  to  rest  ?  For  the  wild  Irish  would  not  listen 
to  them,  or  come  to  confession  and  to  mass,  but  liked 
better  to  brew  potheen,  and  dance  the  pater  o'pee,  and 
knock  each  other  over  the  head  with  shillelaghs,  and 
shoot  each  other  from  behind  turf-dykes,  and  steal  each 
other's  cattle,  and  burn  each  other's  homes  ;  till  St. 
Brandan  and  his  friends  were  weary  of  them,  for  they 
would  not  learn  to  be  peaceable  Christians  at  all. 

So  St.  Brandan  went  out  to  the  point  of  Old  Dunmore, 
and  looked  over  the  tide-way  roaring  round  the  Blas- 
quets,  at  the  end  of  all  the  world,  and  away  into  the 
ocean,  and  sighed — "Ah,  that  I  had  wings  as  a  dove  !  " 
And  far  away,  before  the  setting  sun,  he  saw  a  blue 
fairy  sea,  and  golden  fairy  islands,  and  he  said,  "  Those 
are  the  islands  of  the  blest."  Then  he  and  his  friends 
got  into  a  hooker,  and  sailed  away  and  away  to  the  west- 
ward, and  were  never  heard  of  more.     But  the  people 


158  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

who  would  not  hear  him  were  changed  into  gorillas,  and 
gorillas  they  are  until  this  day. 

And  when  St.  Brandan  and  the  hermits  came  to  that 
fairy  isle  they  found  it  overgrown  with  cedars  and  full 
of  beautiful  birds  ;  and  he  sat  down  under  the  cedars 
and  preached  to  all  the  birds  in  the  air.  And  they 
liked  his  sermons  so  well  that  they  told  the  fishes  in 
the  sea  ;  and  they  came,  and  St.  Brandan  preached  to 
them  ;  and  the  fishes  told  the  water-babies,  who  live  in 
the  caves  under  the  isle  ;  and  they  came  up  by  hundreds 
every  Sunday,  and  St.  Brandan  got  quite  a  neat  little 
Sunday-school.  And  there  he  taught  the  water-babiec 
for  a  great  many  hundred  years,  till  his  eyes  grew  too 
dim  to  see,  and  his  beard  grew  so  long  that  he  dared 
not  walk  for  fear  of  treading  on  it,  and  then  he  might 
have  tumbled  down.  And  at  last  he  and  the  five  hermits 
fell  fast  asleep  under  the  cedar-shades,  and  there  they  sleep 
unto  this  day.  But  the  fairies  took  to  the  water-babies, 
and  taught  them  their  lessons  themselves. 

And  some  say  that  St.  Brandan  will  awake  and  begin 
to  teach  the  babies  once  more  :  but  some  think  that  he 
will  sleep  on,  for  better  or  worse,  till  the  coming  of  the 
Cocqcigrues.  But,  on  still  clear  summer  evenings, 
when  the  sun  sinks  down  into  the  sea,  among  golden 
cloud-capes  and  cloud-islands,  and  locks  and  friths  of 
azure  sky,  the  sailors  fancy  that  they  see,  away  to  west- 
ward, St.  Brandan' s  fairy  isle. 

But  whether  men  can  see  it  or  not,  St.  Brandan's  Isle 
once  actually  stood  there  ;  a  great  land  out  in  the  ocean, 
which  has  sunk  and  sunk  beneath  the  waves.  Old  Plato 
called  it  Atlantis,  and  told  strange  tales  of  the  wise  men 
who  lived  therein,  and  of  the  wars  thev  fought  in  the 
old  times.  And  from  off  that  Island  came  strange 
flowers,  which  linger  still  about  this  land  : — the  Cornish 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 59 

heath  and  Cornish  moneywort,  and  the  delicate  Venus' 
hair,  and  the  London-pride  which  covers  the  Kerry 
Mountains,  and  the  little  pink  butterwort  of  Devon,  and 
the  great  blue  butterwort  of  Ireland,  and  the  Connemara 
heath,  and  the  bristle-fern  of  the  Turk  waterfall,  and 
many  a  strange  plant  more  ;  all  fairy  tokens  left  for 
wise  men  and  good  children  from  off  St.  Brandan's  Isle. 
Now,  when  Tom  got  there,  he  found  that  the  isle 
stood  all  on  pillars,  and  that  its  roots  were  full  of  caves. 
There  were  pillars  of  black  basalt,  like  Staffa  ;  and  pil- 
lars of  green  and  crimson  serpentine,  like  Kynance  ;  and 
pillars  ribboned  with  red  and  white  and  yellow  sand- 
stone, like  Livermead  ;  and  there  were  blue  grottoes, 
like  Capri,  and  white  grottoes,  like  Adelsberg ;  all  cur- 
tained and  draped  with  seaweeds,  purple  and  crimson, 
green  and  brown  ;  and  strewn  with  soft  white  sand,  on 
which  the  water-babies  sleep  every  night.  But,  to  keep 
the  place  clean  and  sweet,  the  crabs  picked  up  all  the 
scraps  off  the  floor  and  ate  them  like  so  many  monkeys  ; 
while  the  rocks  were  covered  with  ten  thousand  sea- 
anemones,  and  corals  and  madrepores,  who  scavenged 
the  water  all  day  long,  and  kept  it  nice  and  pure.  But, 
to  make  up  to  them  for  having  to  do  such  nasty  work, 
they  were  not  left  black  and  dirty,  as  poor  chimney- 
sweeps and  dustmen  are.  No  ;  the  fairies  are  more  con- 
siderate and  just  than  that,  and  have  dressed  them  all  in 
the  most  beautiful  colors  and  patterns,  till  they  look  like 
vast  flower-beds  of  ^av  blossoms.  If  vou  think  I  am 
talking  nonsense,  I  can  only  say  that  it  is  true  ;  and  that 
an  old  gentleman  named  Fourier  used  to  say  that  we 
ought  to  do  the  same  by  chimney-sweeps  and  dustmen, 
and  honor  them  instead  of  despising  them  ;  and  he  was 
a  very  clever  old  gentleman  :  but,  unfortunately  for  him 
and  the  world,  as  mad  as  a  March  hare. 


l6o  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

And,  instead  of  watchmen  and  policemen  to  keep  out 
nasty  things  at  night,  there  were  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  water-snakes,  and  most  wonderful  creatures 
thev  were.  Thev  were  all  named  after  the  Nereids,  the 
sea-fairies  who  took  care  of  them,  Eunice  and  Polynoe, 
Phyllodoce  and  Psamathe,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  pretty 
darlings  who  swim  round  their  Queen  Amphitrite,  and 
her  car  of  cameo  shell.  They  were  dressed  in  green 
velvet,  and  black  velvet,  and  purple  velvet  ;  and  were 
all  jointed  in  rings  ;  and  some  of  them  had  three  hun- 
dred brains  apiece,  so  that  they  must  have  been  uncom- 
monly shrewd  detectives  ;  and  some  had  eyes  in  their 
tails  ;  and  some  had  eyes  in  every  joint,  so  that  they 
kept  a  very  sharp  lookout  ;  and  when  they  wanted  a 
babv-snake,  they  just  grew  one  at  the  end  of  their  own 
tails,  and  when  it  was  able  to  take  care  of  itself  it 
dropped  off;  so  that  they  brought  up  their  families  very 
cheaply.  But,  if  any  nasty  thing  came  by,  out  they 
rushed  noon  it  ;  and  then  out  of  each  of  their  hundreds 
of  feet  there  sprang  a  whole  cutler's  shop  of 

Scythes,  Javelins, 

Billhooks,  Lances, 

Pickaxes,  Halberts, 

Forks,  Gtsartnes, 

Penknives,  Poleaxes, 

Rapiers,  Fishhooks, 

Sabres,  Bradazvls 

Yataghans,  Gimlets, 

Creeses,  Corkscrews, 

Ghoorka  swords,  Pins, 

Tucks,  Needlest 
And  so  forth 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  l6l 

which  stabbed,  shot,  poked,  pricked,  scratched,  ripped 
pinked,  and  crimped  those  naughty  beasts  so  terribl) 
that  they  had  to  run  for  their  lives,  or  else  be  chopped 
into  small  pieces  and  be  eaten  afterwards.  And,  ii 
that  is  not  all,  every  word,  true,  then  there  is  no  faitfa 
in  microscopes,  and  all  is  over  with  the  Linnaean  So- 
ciety. 

And  there  were  the  water-babies  in  thousands,  more 
than  Tom,  or  you  either,  could  count.  All  the  little 
children  whom  the  good  fairies  take  to,  because  their 
cruel  mothers  and  fathers  will  not  ;  all  who  are  untaught 
and  brought  up  heathens,  and  all  who  come  to  grief  by 
ill-usage  or  ignorance  or  neglect  ;  all  the  little  children 
who  are  overlaid,  or  given  gin  when  they  are  young,  or 
are  let  to  drink  out  of  hot  kettles,  or  to  fall  into  the  fire  ; 
all  the  little  children  in  alleys  and  courts,  and  tumble- 
down cottages,  who  die  by  fever,  and  cholera,  and 
measles,  and  scarlatina,  and  nasty  complaints  which  no 
one  has  any  business  to  have,  and  which  no  one  will 
have  some  day,  when  folks  have  common  sense  ;  and  all 
the  little  children  who  have  been  killed  by  cruel  masters 
and  wicked  soldiers  ;  they  were  all  there,  except,  of 
course,  the  babes  of  Bethlehem  who  were  killed  by 
wicked  King  Herod  ;  for  they  were  taken  straight  to 
heaven  long  ago,  as  everybody  knows,  and  we  call  them 
the  Holv  Innocents. 

J 

But  I  wish  Tom  had  given  up  all  his  naughty  tricks, 
and  left  off  tormenting  dumb  animals  now  that  he  had 
plenty  of  playfellows  to  amuse  him.  Instead  of  that,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  he  would  meddle  with  the  creatures, 
all  but  the  water-snakes,  for  they  would  stand  no  non- 
sense. So  he  tickled  the  madrepores,  to  make  them 
shut  up  ;  and  frightened  the  crabs,  to  make  them  hide 
in  the  sand  and  peep  out  at  him  with  the  tips  of  then 


162  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

eyes  ;  and  put  stones  into  the  anemones'  mouths,  to 
make  them  fancy  that  their  dinner  was  coming. 

The  other  children  warned  him,  and  said,  "  Take  care 
what  you  are  at.  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  is  coming. " 
But  Tom  never  heeded  them,  being  quite  riotous  with 
high  spirits  and  good  luck,  till,  one  Friday  morning 
early,  Sirs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  came  indeed. 

A  very  tremendous  lady  she  was  ;  and  when  the  chil- 
dren saw  her  they  all  stood  in  a  row,  very  upright,  in- 
deed, and  smoothed  down  their  bathing  dresses,  and  put 
their  hands  behind  them,  just  as  if  they  were  going  to 
be  examined  by  the  inspector. 

And  she  had  on  a  black  bonnet,  and  a  black  shawl, 
and  no  crinoline  at  all  ;  and  a  pair  of  large  green  spec- 
tacles, and  a  great  hooked  nose,  hooked  so  much  that 
the  bridge  of  it  stood  quite  up  above  her  eyebrows  ;  and 
under  her  arm  she  carried  a  great  birch-rod.  Indeed, 
she  was  so  ugly  that  Tom  was  tempted  to  make  faces  at 
her  :  but  did  not  ;  for  he  did  not  admire  the  look  cf  the 
birch-rod  under  her  arm. 

And  she  looked  at  the  children  one  by  one,  and  seemed 
very  much  pleased  with  them,  though  she  never  asked 
them  one  question  about  how  they  were  behaving  ;  auH 
then  be^an  mvino;  them  all  sorts  of  nice  sea-thino-s — sea- 
cakes,  sea-apples,  sea-oranges,  sea-bullseyes,  sea-toffee  ; 
and  to  the  very  best  of  all  she  gave  sea-ices,  made  out 
of  sea-cows'  cream,  which  never  melt  under  water. 

And  if  you  don't  quite  believe  me,  then  just  think — 
What  is  more  cheap  and  plentiful  than  sea-rock?  Then 
why  should  there  not  be  sea-toffee  as  well  ?  And  every 
one  can  find  sea-lemons  (ready  quartered  too)  if  they  will 
look  for  them  at  low  tide;  and  sea-grapes,  too,  some- 
times, hanging  in  bunches  ;  and,  if  you  will  go  to  Nice, 
you  will  find  the  fish-market  full  of  sea-fruit,  which  they 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


163 


call  "  frutta  di  mare  : "  though  I  suppose  they  call  them 
"  fruits  de  mer  "  now,  out  of  compliment  to  that  most 
successful,  and  therefore  most  immaculate,  potentate 
who  is  seemingly  desirous  of  inheriting  the  blessing  pro- 
nounced on  those  who  re- 
move their  neighbors'  land- 
mark. And,  perhaps,  that  is 
the  very  reason  why  the 
place  is  called  Nice,  because 
there  are  so  many  nice 
things  in  the  sea  there  :  at 
least,  if  it  is  not,  it  ought 
to  be. 

Now  little  Tom  watched 
all  these  sweet  things  given 
away,  till  his  mouth  wat- 
ered, and  his  eyes  grew  as 
round  as  an  owl's.  For  he 
hoped  that  his  turn  would 
come  at  last  ;  and  so  it  did. 
For  the  lady  called  him  up, 
and  held  out  her  fingers  with 
something  in  them,  and 
popped  it  into  his  mouth  ; 
and,  lo  and  behold,  it  was  a 
nasty  cold  hard  pebble. 

"You  are  a  very  cruel 
woman,"  said  he,  and  began 
to  whimper. 

"And  you  are  a  very  cruel  boy  ;  who  puts  pebbles  into 
the  sea-anemones'  mouths,  to  take  them  in,  and  make 
them  fancy  that  they  had  caught  a  good  dinner  !  As  you 
did  to  them,  so  I  must  do  to  you." 

"Who  told  you  that?"  said  Tom. 


1 64  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

"  You  did  yourself,  this  very  minute." 

Tom  had  never  opened  his  lips  ;  so  he  was  very  much 
taken  aback,  indeed. 

"  Yes  ;  every  one  tells  me  exactly  what  they  have 
done  wrong  ;  and  that  without  knowing  it  themselves. 
So  there  is  no  use  trying  to  hide  anything  from  me. 
Now  go,  and  be  a  good  boy,  and  I  will  put  no  more 
pebbles  in  your  mouth,  if  you  put  none  in  other  crea- 
tures1." 

"  I  did  not  know  there  was  any  harm  in  it,"  said 
Tom. 

"Then  you  know  now.  People  continually  say  that 
to  me  :  but  I  tell  them,  if  you  don't  know  that  fire  burns, 
that  is  no  reason  that  it  should  not  burn  you  ;  and  if 
you  don't  know  that  dirt  breeds  fever,  that  is  no  reason 
why  the  fevers  should  not  kill  you.  The  lobster  did 
not  know  that  there  was  any  harm  in  getting  into  the 
lobster-pot  ;  but  it  caught  him  all  the  same." 

"  Dear  me,"  thought  Tom,  "she  knows  everything  !  " 
And  so  she  did,  indeed. 

"And  so,  if  you  do  not  know  that  things  are  wrong, 
that  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not  be  punished  for 
them  ;  though  not  as  much,  not  as  much,  my  little 
man"  (and  the  lady  looked  very  kindly,  after  all),  "as 
if  you  did  know." 

"Well,  you  are  a  little  hard  on  a  poor  lad,"  said 
Tom. 

"Not  at  all  ;  I  am  the  best  friend  you  ever  had  in 
all  your  life.  But  I  will  tell  you  ;  I  cannot  help  punish- 
ing people  when  they  do  wrong.  I  like  it  no  more  than 
they  do  ;  I  am  often  very,  very  sorry  for  them,  poor 
things  :  but  I  cannot  help  it.  If  I  tried  not  to  do  it,  I 
should  do  it  all  the  same.  For  I  work  by  machinery, 
just  like  an  engine,  and  am  full  of  wheels  and  springs 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 65 

inside  ;  and  am  wound  up  very  carefully,  so  that  I  can- 
not help  going." 

"Was  it  long  ago  since  they  wound  you  up?  "  asked 
Tom.  For  he  thought,  the  cunning  little  fellow,  "  She 
will  run  down  some  day  :  or  they  may  forget  to  wind  her 
up,  as  old  Grimes  used  to  forget  to  wind  up  his  watch 
when  he  came  in  from  the  public-house  ;  and  then  I 
shall  be  safe." 

"  I  was  wound  up  once  and  for  all,  so  long  ago,  that 
I  forget  all  about  it." 

"Dear  me,"  said  Tom,  "you  must  have  been  made 
a  long  time  !  " 

"I  never  was  made,  my  child;  and  I  shall  go  for 
ever  and  ever  ;  foi  I  am  as  old  as  Eternity,  and  yet  as 
vounor  as  Time." 

And  there  came  over  the  lady's  face  a  very  curious 
expression — very  solemn,  and  very  sad  ;  and  yet  very, 
very  sweet.  And  she  looked  up  and  away,  as  if  she 
were  gazing  through  the  sea,  and  through  the  sky,  at 
something  far,  far  off ;  and  as  she  did  so,  there  came 
such  a  quiet,  tender,  patient,  hopeful  smile  over  her  face 
that  Tom  thought  for  the  moment  that  she  did  not  look 
ugly  at  all.  And  no  more  she  did  ;  for  she  was  like  a 
great  many  people  who  have  not  a  pretty  feature  in  their 
faces,  and  yet  are  lovely  to  behold,  and  draw  little  chil- 
dren's hearts  to  them  at  once  ;  because  though  the  house 
is  plain  enough,  yet  from  the  windows  a  beautiful  and 
good  spirit  is  looking  forth. 

And  Tom  smiled  in  her  face,  she  looked  so  pleasant  for 
the  moment.     And  the  strange  fairy  smiled  too,  and  said  : 

"  Yes.  You  thought  me  very  ugly  just  now,  did  you 
not?" 

Tom  hung  down  his  head,  and  got  very  red  about  the 
ears. 


1 66  /THE  WATER-BABIES. 

"  And  I  am  very  ugly.  I  am  the  ugliest  fairy  in  the 
world  ;  and  I  shall  be,  till  people  behave  themselves  as 
thev  ought  to  do.  And  then  I  shall  grow  as  handsome 
as  my  sister,  who  is  the  loveliest  fairy  in  the  world  ;  and 
her  name  is  Mrs.  Doasyouwouldbedoneby.  So  she  be- 
gins where  I  end,  and  I  begin  where  she  ends  ;  and  those 
who  will  not  listen  to  her  must  listen  to  me,  as  you 
will  see.  Now,  all  of  you  run  away,  except  Tom  ;  and 
he  may  stay  and  see  what  J  am  going  to  do.  It  will 
be  a  very  good  warning  for  him  to  begin  with,  before 
he  goes  to  school. 

u  Now,  Tom,  every  Friday  I  come  down  here  and  call 
up  all  who  have  ill-used  little  children  and  serve  them 
as  they  served  the  children." 

And  at  that  Tom  was  frightened,  and  crept  under  a 
stone  ;  which  made  the  two  crabs  who  lived  there  very 
angry,  and  frightened  their  friend  the  butter-fish  into 
flapping  hysterics  :  but  he  would  not  move  for  them. 

And  first  she  called  up  all  the  doctors  who  give  little 
children  so  much  physic  (they  were  most  of  them  old 
ones  ;  for  the  young  ones  have  learnt  better,  all  but  a 
few  army  surgeons,  who  still  fancy  that  a  baby's  inside 
is  much  like  a  Scotch  grenadier's),  and  she  set  them 
all  in  a  row  ;  and  very  rueful  they  looked  ;  for  they 
knew  what  was  coming. 

And  first  she  pulled  all  their  teeth  out  ;  and  then  she 
bled  them  all  round  ;  and  then  she  dosed  them  with 
calomel,  and  jalap,  and  salts  and  senna,  and  brimstone 
and  treacle  ;  and  horrible  faces  they  made  ;  and  then  she 
gave  them  a  great  emetic  of  mustard  and  water,  and  no 
basons ;  and  began  all  over  again  ;  and  that  was  the  way 
she  spent  the  morning. 

And  then  she  called  up  a  whole  troop  of  foolish  ladies, 
who  pinch  up  their  children's  waists  and  toes  ;  and  she 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 67 

laced  them  all  up  in  tight  stays,  so  that  they  were 
choked  and  sick,  and  their  noses  grew  red,  and  their 
hands  and  feet  swelled  ;  and  then  she  crammed  their 
poor  feet  into  the  most  dreadfully  tight  boots,  and  made 
them  all  dance,  which  they  did  most  clumsily,  indeed;  and 
then  she  asked  them  how  they  liked  it  ;  and  when  they 
said  not  at  all,  she  let  them  go  :  because  they  had  only 
done  it  out  of  foolish  fashion,  fancying  it  was  for  their 
children's  good,  as  if  wasps'  waists  and  pigs'  toes  could 
be  pretty,  or  wholesome,  or  of  any  use  to  anybody. 

Then  she  called  up  all  the  careless  nurserymaids,  and 
stuck  pins  into  them  all  over,  and  wheeled  them  about 
in  perambulators  with  tight  straps  across  their  stomachs 
and  their  heads  and  arms  hanging  over  the  side,  till  they 
were  quite  sick  and  stupid,  and  would  have  had  sun- 
strokes ;  but,  being  under  the  water,  they  could  only 
have  water-strokes  ;  which,  I  assure  you,  are  nearly  as 
bad,  as  you  will  find  out  if  you  try  to  sit  under  a  mill- 
wheel.  And  mind — when  you  hear  a  rumbling  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  sailors  will  tell  you  that  it  is  a  ground- 
swell  :  but  now  you  know  better.  It  is  the  old  lady 
wheeling  the  maids  about  in  perambulators. 

And  bv  that  time  she  was  so  tired  that  she  had  to  go 
to  luncheon. 

And  after  luncheon  she  set  to  work  again,  and  called 
up  all  the  cruel  schoolmasters — whole  regiments  and 
brigades  of  them  ;  and,  when  she  saw  them,  she  frowned 
most  terribly,  and  set  to  work  in  earnest,  as  if  the  best 
part  of  the  day's  work  was  to  come.  More  than  half  of 
them  were  nasty,  dirty,  frowzy,  grubby,  smelly  old 
monks,  who,  because  they  dare  not  hit  a  man  of  their 
own  size,  amused  themselves  with  beating  little  *  hildren 
\nstead  ;  as  you  may  see  in  the  picture  of  old  Pope 
Gregory  (good  man  and  true  though  he  was,  when  he 


l68  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

meddled  with  things  which  he  did  not  understand), 
teaching  children  to  sing  their  fa-fa-mi-fa  with  a  cat-o'- 
nine-tails  under  his  chair  :  but,  because  they  never  had 
any  children  of  their  own,  they  took  into  their  heads  (as 
folks  do  still)  that  they  were  the  only  people  in  the 
wrorld  who  knew  how  to  manage  children  :  and  they  first 
brought  into  England,  in  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  times, 
the  fashion  of  treating  free  boys,  and  girls,  too,  worse 
than  you  would  treat  a  dog  or  a  horse  :  but  Mrs.  Bedone- 
bvasvoudid  has  caught  them  all  lon^  a^o  ;  and  oriven 
them  many  a  taste  of  their  own  rods  ;  and  much  good 
may  it  do  them. 

And  she  boxed  their  ears,  and  thumped  them  over  the 
head  with  rulers,  and  pandied  their  hands  with  canes, 
and  told  them  that  they  told  stories,  and  were  this  and 
that  bad  sort  of  people  ;  and  the  more  they  were  very 
indignant,  and  stood  upon  their  honor,  and  declared  they 
told  the  truth,  the  more  she  declared  they  were  not, 
and  that  they  were  only  telling  lies  ;  and  at  last  she 
birched  them  all  round  soundlv  with  her  oreat  birch-rod 
and  set  them  each  an  imposition  of  three  hundred  thou- 
sand lines  of  Hebrew  to  learn  by  heart  before  she  came 
back  next  Friday.  And  at  that  they  all  howled  and 
cried  so  that  their  breaths  came  up  through  the  sea  like 
bubbles  out  of  soda-water ;  and  that  is  one  reason  of  the 
bubbles  in  the  sea.  There  are  others  :  but  that  is  the 
one  which  principally  concerns  little  boys.  And  by  that 
time  she  was  so  tired  that  she  was  glad  to  stop  ;  and 
indeed,  she  had  done  a  very  good  day's  work. 

Tom  did  not  quite  dislike  the  old  lady  :  but  he  could 
not  help  thinking  her  a  little  spiteful— and-  no  wonder 
if  she  *vas,  poor  old  soul  ;  for  if  she  has  to  wait  to  grow 
handsome  till  people  do  as  they  would  be  done  by,  she 
will  have  to  wait  a  very  long  time. 


A    FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY.  1 69 

Poor  old  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  !  she  has  a  great  deal 
of  hard  work  before  her,  and  had  better  have  been 
born  a  washerwoman,  and  stood  over  a  tub  all  day  ; 
but,  you  see,  people  cannot  always  choose  their  own 
profession. 

But  Tom  longed  to  ask  her  one  question  ;  and,  after 
all,  whenever  she  looked  at  him,  she  did  not  look  cross 
at  all  ;  and  now  and  then  there  was  a  funny  smile  in  her 
face,  and  she  chuckled  to  herself  in  a  way  which  gave 
Tom  courage,  and  at  last  lie  said  : 

"  Pray,  ma'am,  may  I  ask  you  a  question?" 

"  Certainly,  my  little  dear." 

"Why  don't  you  bring  all  the  bad  masters  here  and 
serve  them  out,  too  ?  The  butties  that  knock  about  the 
poor  collier-boys  ; .  and  the  nailers  that  file  off  their  lads' 
noses  and  hammer  their  fingers  ;  and  all  the  master 
sweeps,  like  my  master,  Grimes?  I  saw  him  fall  into 
the  water  long  ago  ;  so  I  surely  expected  he  would  have 
been  here.      I'm  sure  he  was  bad  enough  to  me." 

Then  the  old  lady  looked  so  very  stern  that  Tom  was 
quite  frightened,  and  sorry  that  he  had  been  so  bold. 
But  she  was  not  angry  with  him.  She  only  answered, 
"  I  look  after  them  all  the  week  round  ;  and  they  are  in 
a  very  different  place  from  this,  because  they  knew  that 
they  were  doing  wrong." 

She  spoke  very  quietly  ;  but  there  was  something  in 
her  voice  which  made  Tom  tingle  from  head  to  foot,  as 
if  he  had  got  into  a  shoal  of  sea-nettles. 

"  But  these  people,"  she  went  on,  ' '  did  not  know  that 
they  were  doing  wrong  :  they  were  only  stupid  and  im- 
patient ;  and  therefore  I  only  punish  them  till  they 
become  patient,  and  learn  to  use  their  common  sense 
like  reasonable  beings.  But  as  for  chimney-sweeps, 
and  collier-boys,  and  nailer  lads,  my  sister  has  set  good 

12—-  Water-Bahiea 


170  THE   WATEP -BABIES. 

people  to  stop  all  that  sort  of  thing  ;  and  very  much 
obliged  to  her  I  am  ;  for  if  she  could  only  stop  the  cruel 
masters  from  ill-using  poor  children,  I  should  grow 
handsome  at  least  a  thousand  years  sooner.  And  now 
do  you  be  a  good  boy,  and  do  as  you  would  be  done  by, 
which  they  did  not  ;  and  then,  when  my  sister,  Madame 
Doasyouwouldbedoneby,  comes  on  Sunday,  perhaps 
she  will  take  notice  of  you,  and  teach  you  how  to  be- 
have. She  understands  that  better  than  I  do."  And 
so  she  went. 

Tom  was  very  glad  to  hear  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  meeting  Grimes  again,  though  he  was  a  little  sorry 
for  him,  considering  that  he  used  sometimes  to  give  him 
the  leavings  of  the  beer  :  but  he  determined  to  be  a  very 
good  boy  all  Saturday  ;  and  he  was ;  for  he  never  fright- 
ened one  crab,  nor  tickled  any  live  corals,  nor  put  stones 
into  the  sea  anemones'  mouths,  to  make  them  fancy 
they  had  got  a  dinner;  and  when  Sunday  morning 
came,  sure  enough,  Mrs.  Doasyouwouldbedoneby 
came,  too.  Whereat  all  the  little  children  began 
dancing  and  clapping  their  hands,  and  Tom  danced  too 
with  all  his  might. 

And  as  for  the  pretty  lady,  I  cannot  tell  you  what  the 
color  of  her  hair  was,  or  of  her  eves:  no  more  could 
Tom  ;  for,  when  any  one  looks  at  her,  all  they  can  think 
of  is,  that  she  has  the  sweetest,  kindest,  tenderest,  fun- 
niest, merriest  face  they  ever  saw,  or  want  to  see.  But 
Tom  saw  that  she  was  a  very  tall  woman,  as  tall  as  her 
sister  :  but  instead  of  being  gnarly,  and  horny,  and 
scaly,  and  prickly,  like  her,  she  was  the  most  nice,  soft, 
fat,  smooth,  pussy,  cuddly,  delicious  creature  who  ever 
nursed  a  baby  ;  and  she  understood  babies  thoroughly, 
for  she  had  plenty  of  her  own,  whole  rows  and  regiments 
of  them,  and  has  to  this  day.     And  all  her  delight  was, 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY.  171 

whenever  she  had  a  spare  moment,  to  play  with  babies, 
in  which  she  showed  herself  a  woman  of  sense  ;  for 
babies  are  the  best  company  and  the  pleasantest  play- 
fellows in  the  world  ;  at  least,  so  all  the  wise  people  in 
the  world  think.  And,  therefore,  when  the  children 
saw  her,  they  naturally  all  caught  hold  of  her,  and 
pulled  her,  till  she  sat  down  on  a  stone,  and  climbed 
into  her  lap,  and  clung  round  her  neck,  and  caught  hold 
of  her  hands  ;  and  then  they  all  put  their  thumbs  into 
their  mouths,  and  began  cuddling  and  purring  like  so 
many  kittens,  as  they  ought  to  have  done.  While  those 
who  could  get  nowhere  else  sat  down  on  the  sand,  and 
cuddled  her  feet — for  no  one,  you  know,  wears  shoes  in 
the  water,  except  horrid  old  bathing-women,  who  are 
afraid  of  the  water-babies  pinching  their  horny  toes. 
And  Tom  stood  staring  at  them  ;  for  he  could  not  under- 
stand what  it  was  all  about. 

"And  who  are  you,  you  little  darling?"  she  said. 

"Oh,  that  is  the  new  baby  !"  they  all  cried,  pulling 
their  thumbs  out  of  their  mouths  ;  "  and  he  never  had 
any  mother,"  and  they  all  put  their  thumbs  back  again, 
for  they  did  not  wish  to  lose  any  time. 

"Then  I  will  be  his  mother,  and  he  shall  have  the 
very  best  place  ;  so  get  out,  all  of  you,  this  moment." 

And  she  took  up  two  great  arm  fills  of  babies — nine 
hundred  under  one  arm  and  thirteen  hundred  under  the 
other — and  threw  them  away,  right  and  left,  into  the 
water.  But  they  minded  it  no  more  than  the  naughty 
boys  in  Struwelpeter  minded  when  St.  Nicholas  dipped 
them  in  his  inkstand  ;  and  did  not  even  take  their 
thumbs  out  of  their  mouths,  but  came  paddling  and 
wriggling  back  to  her  like  so  many  tadpoles,  till  you 
could  see  nothing  of  her  from  head  to  foot  for  the 
swarm  of  little  babies. 


172  THE   WATER-RABIES. 

But  she  took  Tom  in  her  arms,  and  laid  him  in  the 
softest  place  of  all,  and  kissed  him,  and  patted  him, 
and  talked  to  him,  tenderly  and  low,  such  things  as  he 
had  never  heard  before  in  his  life  ;  and  Tom  looked  up 
into  her  eyes,  and  loved  her,  and  loved,  till  he  fell  fast 
asleep  from  pure  love. 

And  when  he  woke  she  was  telling  the  children  a 
story.  And  what  story  did  she  tell  them  ?  One  story 
she  told  them,  which  begins  every  Christmas  Eve,  and 
yet  never  ends  at  all  for  ever  and  ever  ;  and,  as  she  went 
on,  the  children  took  their  thumbs  out  of  their  mouths 
and  listened  quite  seriously  ;  but  not  sadly  at  all  ;  for 
she  never  told  them  anything  sad  ;  and  Tom  listened 
too,  and  never  grew  tired  of  listening.  And  he  listened 
so  long  that  he  fell  fast  asleep  again,  and,  when  he  woke, 
the  lady  was  nursing  him  still. 

"  Don't  go  away,"  said  little  Tom.  "This  is  so  nice. 
I  never  had  any  one  to  cuddle  me  before." 

"  Don't  go  away,"  said  all  the  children  ;  "you  have 
not  sung  us  one  song." 

"Well,  I  have  time  for  only  one.  So  what  shall  it 
be?" 

"The  doll  you  lost  !  The  doll  you  lost?"  cried  all 
fche  babies  at  once. 

So  the  strange  fairy  san.g  : 

/  once  had  a  sweet  little  doll,  dears, 

The  prettiest  doll  in  the  world ; 
Her  cheeks  were  so  red  and  so  white,  dears, 

And  her  hair  was  so  charmingly  curled. 
But  I  lost  my  poor  little  doll,  dears, 

As  I  played  in  the  heath  one  day  ; 
And  I  cried  for  her  more  than  a  week,  dears. 

But  I  never  coidd  find  zvhere  she  lay. 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 

I  found  my  poor  little  doll,  dears, 
As  I  played  in  the  heath  one  day: 


173 


Folks  say  she  is  terribly  changed,  dears, 
For  her  paint  is  all  zvashed  away, 


174  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

A?id  her  arm  trodden  off  by  the  cows,  dears t 
And  her  hair  not  the  least  bit  curled: 

Yet  for  old  sakcs"  sake  she  is  still,  dears , 
The  prettiest  doll  in  the  world. 

What  a  silly  song  for  a  fairy  to  sing. 

And  what  silly  water-babies  to  be  quite  delighted  at 


it! 


Well,  but   you  see  they  have  not  the  advantage  of 


..^s 


Aunt  Agitate's  Arguments  in  the  sea-land  down  below. 

"  Now,"  said  the  fairy  to  Tom,  "will  you  be  a  good 
boy  for  my  sake,  and  torment  no  more  sea-beasts  till  I 
come  back  ?  " 

"And  you  will  cuddle  me  again?"  said  poor  little 
Tom. 

"Of  course  I  will,  you  little  duck.  I  should  like  to 
take  you  with  me  and  cuddle  you  all  the  way,  only  I 
must  not  ;  "  and  away  she  went. 

So  Tom  really  tried  to  be  a  good  boy,  and  tormented 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


175 


long  as  he  lived  ; 


and  he  is 


no  sea-beasts  after  that  as 
quite  alive,  I  assure  you,  still. 

Oh,  how  good  little  boys  ought  to  be  who  have  kind 
pussy  mammas  to  cuddle  them  and  tell  them  stories  ; 
and  how  afraid  they  ought  to  be  of  growing  naughty, 
and  bringing  tears  into  their  mammas'  pretty  eyes  ! 


•'Thou  little  child,  yet  glorious  in  the  night 
Of  heaven-born  freedom  on  thy  Being's  height, 
"Why  with  such  earnest  pains  dost  thou  provoke 
The  Years  to  bring  the  inevitable  yoke — 

Thus  blindly  with  thy  blessedness  at  strife  ? 
Full  soon  thy  soul  shall  have  her  earthly  freight, 
And  custom  lie  upon  thee  with  a  weight 
Heavy  as  frost,  and  deep  almost  as  life" 

Wordsworth, 


CHAPTER  VI. 


HERE  I  come  to  the 
very  saddest  part  of 
all    my    story.       I 
know  some   people 
will   onlv  laugfh  at 
:^  it,  and  call  it  much  ado  about 
nothing.    But  I  know  one  man 
who  would  not ;   and    he  was  an 
officer  with  a  pair  of  gray  mous- 
taches as  long  as  your  arm,  who 
said  once  in  company  that  two  of 
the  most  heart-rending  sights  in 
the  world,  which  moved  him  most 
to  tears,  which  he  would  do  any- 
thing to  prevent  or  remedy,  were 
a  child  over  a  broken  toy  and  a 
child  stealing  sweets. 

The  company  did  not  laugh  at  him  ;  his  moustaches 
were  too  long  and  too  gray  for  that ;  but,  after  he  was 
(176) 


A    FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY.  1 77 

gone,  they  called  him  sentimental  and  so  forth,  all  but 
one  dear  little  old  Quaker  lady  with  a  soul  as  white  as 
her  cap,  who  was  not,  of  course,  generally  partial  to 
soldiers  ;  and  she  said  very  quietly,  like  a  Quaker  : 

u  Friends,  it  is  borne  upon  my  mind  that  that  is  a 
truly  brave  man." 

Now  you  may  fancy  that  Tom  was  quite  good,  when 
he  had  everything  that  he  could  want  or  wish  ;  but  you 
would  be  very  much  mistaken.  Being  quite  comfort- 
able is  a  very  good  thing  ;  but  it  does  not  make  people 
good.  Indeed,  it  sometimes  makes  them  naughty,  as  it 
has  made  the  people  in  America  ;  and  as  it  made  the 
people  in  the  Bible,  who  waxed  fat  and  kicked,  like 
horses  overfed  and  underworked.  And  I  am  very  sorry 
to  say  that  this  happened  to  little  Tom.  For  he  grew 
so  fond  of  the  sea-bullseyes  and  sea-lollipops  that  his 
foolish  little  head  could  think  of  nothing  else  :  and  he 
was  always  longing  for  more,  and  wondering  when  the 
strange  lady  would  come  again  and  give  him  some,  and 
what  she  would  give  him,  and  how  much,  and  whether 
she  would  give  him  more  than  the  others.  And  he 
thought  of  nothing  but  lollipops  by  day,  and  dreamt  of 
nothing  else  by  night — and  what  happened  then  ? 

That  he  began  to  watch  the  lady  to  see  where  she  kept 
the  sweet  things  :  and  began  hiding,  and  sneaking,  and 
following  her  about,  and  pretending  to  be  looking  the 
other  way,  or  going  after  something  else,  till  he  found 
out  that  she  kept  them  in  a  beautiful  mother-of-pearl 
cabinet  away  in  a  deep  crack  of  the  rocks. 

And  he  longed  to  go  to  the  cabinet,  and  yet  he  was 
afraid  ;  and  then  he  longed  again,  and  was  less  afraid  ; 
and  at  last,  by  continual  thinking  about  it,  he  longed  so 
violently  that  he  was  not  afraid  at  all.  And  one  night, 
when  all   the  other  children  were  asleep,  and  he  could 


I78  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

not  sleep  for  thinking  of  lollipops,  he  crept  away  among 
the  rocks  and  got  to  the  cabinet,  and  behold  !  it  was 
open. 

But  when  he  saw  all  the  nice  things  inside,  instead  of 
being  delighted,  he  was  quite  frightened,  and  wished  he 
had  never  come  there.  And  then  he  would  only  touch 
them,  and  he  did  ;  and  then  he  would  only  taste  one,  and 
he  did  ;  and  then  he  would  only  eat  one,  and  he  did  ; 
and  then  he  would  only  eat  two,  and  then  three,  and  so 
on  ;  and  then  he  was  terrified  lest  she  should  come  and 
catch  him,  and  began  gobbling  them  down  so  fast  that 
he  did  not  taste  them,  or  have  any  pleasure  in  them  ; 
and  then  he  felt  sick,  and  would  have  only  one  more  ; 
and  then  only  one  more  again  ;  and  so  on  till  he  had 
eaten  them  all  up. 

And  all  the  while,  close  behind  him,  stood  Mrs.  Be- 
donebyasyoudid. 

Some  people  may  say,  But  why  did  she  not  keep  her 
cupboard  locked  ?  Well,  I  know.  It  may  seem  a  very 
strange  thing,  but  she  never  does  keep  her  cupboard 
locked  ;  every  one  may  go  and  taste  for  themselves,  and 
fare  accordingly.  It  is  very  odd,  but  so  it  is  ;  and  I  am 
quite  sure  that  she  knows  best.  Perhaps  she  wishes 
people  to  keep  their  fingers  out  of  the  fire,  by  having 
them  burned. 

She  took  off  her  spectacles,  because  she  did  not  like 
to  see  too  much  ;  and  in  her  pity  she  arched  up  her  eye- 
brows into  her  very  hair,  and  her  eyes  grew  so  wide  that 
they  would  h-ave  taken  in  all  the  sorrows  of  the  world, 
and  filled  with  great  big  tears,  as  they  too  often  do. 

But  all  she  said  was  : 

"Ah,  you  poor  little  dear  !  you  are  just  like  all  the 
rest.'"7 

But  she  said  it  to  herself,  and  Tom  neither  heard  nor 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 79 

saw  her.  Now  you  must  not  fancy  that  she  was  senti- 
mental at  all.  If  you  do,  and  think  that  she  is  going  to 
let  off  you,  or  me,  or  any  human  being  when  we  do 
wrong,  because  she  is  too  tender-hearted  to  punish  us, 
then  you  will  find  yourself  very  much  mistaken,  as  many 
a  man  does  every  year  and  every  day. 

But  what  did  the  strange  fairy  do  when  she  saw  all 
her  lollipops  eaten? 

Did  she  fly  at  Tom,  catch  him  by  the  scruff  of  the 
neck,  hold  him,  howk  him,  hump  him,  hurry  him,  hit 
him,  poke  him,  pull  him,  pinch  him,  pound  him,  put 
him  in  the  corner,  shake  him,  slap  him,  set  him  on  a 
cold  stone  to  reconsider  himself,  and  so  forth  ? 

Not  a  bit.  You  may  watch  her  at  work  if  you  know 
where  to  find  her.  But  you  will  never  see  her  do  that. 
For,  if  she  had,  she  knew  quite  well  Tom  would  have 
fought,  and  kicked,  and  bit,  and  said  bad  words,  and 
turned  again  that  moment  into  a  naughty  little  heathen 
chimney-sweep,  with  his  hand,  like  Ishmael's  of  old, 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against  him. 

Did  she  question  him,  hurry  him,  frighten  him, 
threaten  him,  to  make  him  confess?  Not  a  bit.  You 
may  see  her,  as  I  said,  at  her  work  often  enough  if  you 
know  where  to  look  for  her  :  but  you  will  never  see  her 
do  that.  For,  if  she  had,  she  would  have  tempted  him 
to  tell  lies-  in  his  fright  ;  and  that  would  have  been  worse 
for  him,  it  possible,  than  even  becoming  a  heathen 
chimney-sweep  again. 

No.  She  leaves  that  for  anxious  parents  and  teachers 
(lazy  ones,  some  call  them),  who,  instead  of  giving  chil- 
dren a  fair  trial,  such  as  they  would  expect  and  demand 
for  themselves,  force  them  by  fright  to  confess  their  own 
faults — which  is  so  cruel  and  unfair  that  no  judge  on 
the  bench  dare  do  it  to  the  wickedest  thief  or  murderer, 


l8o  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

for  the  good  British  law  forbids  it — ay,  and  even  punish 
them  to  make  them  confess,  which  is  so  detestable  a 
crime  that  it  is  never  committed  now,  save  by  Inquisi- 
tors, and  Kings  of  Naples,  and  a  few  other  wretched 
people  of  whom  the  world  is  weary.  And  then  they 
say,  "We  have  trained  up  the  child  in  the  way  he 
should  go,  and  when  he  grew  up  he  has  departed  from 
it.  Why  then  did  Solomon  say  that  he  would  not  de- 
part from  it?"  But  perhaps  the  way  of  beating,  and 
hurrying,  and  frightening,  and  questioning  was  not  the 
way  that  the  child  should  go  ;  for  it  is  not  even  the  way 
in  which  a  colt  should  go  if  you  want  to  break  it  in  and 
make  it  a  quiet,  serviceable  horse. 

Some  folks  may  say,  "Ah!  but  the  Fairy  does  not 
need  to  do  that  if  she  knows  everything  already."  True. 
But,  if  she  did  not  know,  she  would  not  surely  behave 
worse  than  a  British  judge  and  jury  ;  and  no  more 
should  parents  and  teachers  either. 

So  she  just  said  nothing  at  all  about  the  matter,  not 
even  when  Tom  came  next  day  with  the  rest  for  sweet 
things.  He  was  horriblv  afraid  of  coming  :  DUt.  he  was 
still  more  afraid  of  staying  away,  lest  any  one  should 
suspect  him.  He  was  dreadfully  afraid,  too,  lest  there 
should  be  no  sweets — as  was  to  be  expected,  he  having 
eaten  them  ail — and  lest  then  the  fairy  should  inquire 
who  had  taken  them.  But,  behold  !  she  pulled  out  just 
as  many  as  ever,  which  astonished  Tom,  and  frightened 
him  still  more. 

And,,  when  the  fairy  looked  him  full  in  the  face,  he 
shook  from  head  to  foot  :  however,  she  gave  him  his 
share  like  the  rest,  and  he  thought  within  himself  that 
she  could  not  have  found  him  out. 

But,  when  he  put  the  sweets  into  his  mouth,  he 
hated   the  taste  of  them  ;  and  they  made  him   so  sick 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


181 


that  he  had  to  get  away  as  fast  as  he  could  ;  and  ter- 
ribly sick  he  was,  and  very  cross  and  unhappy,  all  the 
week  after. 

Then,  when  next  week  came,  he  had  his  shar^  again; 
and  again  the  fairy  looked 
him  full  in  the  face  ;  but 
more  sadly  than  she  had 
ever  looked.  And  he  could 
not  bear  the  sweets  ;  but 
took  them  again  in  spite  of 
himself. 

And  when  Mrs.  Doasyou- 
wouldbedoneby  came,  he 
wanted  to  be  cuddled  like 
the  rest,  but  she  said  very 
seriously  : 

"I  should  like  to  cuddle 
you  ;  but  I  cannot,  you  are 
so  horny  and  prickly." 

And  Tom  looked  at  him- 
self: and  he  was  all  over 
prickles,  just  like  a  sea-egg. 

Which  was  quite  natural  ; 
for  you  must  know  and  be- 
lieve     that     people's     souls 
make  their  bodies  just  as  a 
snail  makes  its   shell   (I  am 
not  joking,  my  little  man  ;  I 
am  in  serious,  solemn  earn- 
est).    And,  therefore,  when  Tom's  soul  grew  all  prickly 
with  naughty  tempers,  his  body  could  not  help  growing 
prickly,  too,  so  that  nobody  would  cuddle  him,  or  play 
with  him,  or  even  like  to  look  at  him. 

What   could  Tom  do  now  but  go  away  and  hide  in 


l82  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

a  corner  and  cry  ?  For  nobody  would  play  with  him, 
and  he  knew  full  well  why. 

And  he  was  so  miserable  all  that  week  that  when  the 
ugly  fairy  came  and  looked  at  him  once  more  full  in  the 
face,  more  seriously  and  sadly  than  ever,  he  could  stand 
it  no  longer,  and  thrust  the  sweetmeats  away,  saying, 
"No,  I  don't  want  any  :  I  can't  bear  them  now,"  and 
then  burst  out  crying,  poor  little  man,  and  told  Mrs. 
Bedonebyasyoudid  every  word  as  it  happened. 

He  was  horribly  frightened  when  he  had  done  so ;  for 
he  expected  her  to  punish  him  very  severely.  But,  in- 
stead, she  only  took  him  up  and  kissed  him,  which  was 
not  quite  pleasant,  for  her  chin  was  very  bristly,  indeed  ; 
but  he  was  so  lonely-hearted,  he  thought  that  rough 
kissing  was  better  than  none. 

u  I  will  forgive  you,  little  man,"  she  said.  "  I  always 
forgive  every  one  the  moment  they  tell  me  the  truth  of 
their  own  accord." 

11  Then  you  will  take  away  all  these  nasty  prickles?  " 

"That  is  a  very  different  matter.  You  put  them 
there  yourself,  and  only  you  can  take  them  away." 

"But  how  can  I  do  that?"  asked  Tom,  crying 
afresh. 

"Well,  I  think  it  is  time  for  you  to  go  to  school  ;  so 
I  shall  fetch  you  a  schoolmistress,  who  will  teach  you 
how  to  get  rid  of  your  prickles."  And  so  she  went 
away. 

Tom  was  frightened  at  the  notion  of  a  schoolmistress  ; 
for  he  thought  she  would  certainly  come  with  a  birch- 
rod  or  a  cane  ;  but  he  comforted  himself,  at  last,  that  she 
might  be  something  like  the  old  woman  in  Vendale — 
which  she  was  not  in  the  least  ;  for,  when  the  fairy 
brought  her,  she  was  the  most  beautiful  little  girl  that 
ever  was  seen,  with  long  curls  floating  behind  her  like  a 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 


183 


golden  cloud,  and  long  robes  floating  all  round  her  like 
a  silver  one. 

tl  There  he  is,"  said  the  fairy  ;  "  and  you  must  teach 
him  to  be  good,  whether  you  like  or  not." 

"  I  know,"  said  the  little  girl ;  but  she  did  not  seem 


SVA1H  St 


quite  to  like,  for  she  put  her  finger  in  her  mouth,  and 
looked  at  Tom  under  her  brows  ;  and  Tom  put  his  finger 
in  his  mouth,  and  looked  at  her  under  his  brows,  for  he 
was  horriblv  ashamed  of  himself. 

J 

The  little  girl  seemed  hardly  to  know  how  to  begin  ; 
and  perhaps  she  would  never  have  begun  at  all  if  poor 


184  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

Tom  had  not  burst  out  crying,  and  begged  her  to  teach 
him  to  be  good  and  help  him  to  cure  his  prickles  ;  and 
at  that  she  grew  so  tender-hearted  that  she  began 
teaching  him  as  prettily  as  ever  child  was  taught  in  the 
world. 

And  what  did  the  little  girl  teach  Tom  ?  She  taught 
him,  first,  what  you  have  been  taught  ever  since  you 
said  your  first  prayers  at  your  mother's  knees  ;  but  she 
taught  him  much  more  simply.  For  the  lessons  in  that 
world,  my  child,  have  no  such  hard  words  in  them  as 
the  lessons  in  this,  and  therefore  the  water-babies  like 
them  better  than  you  like  your  lessons,  and  long  to  learn 
them  more  and  more  ;  and  grown  men  cannot  puzzle  nor 
quarrel  over  their  meaning,  as  they  do  here  on  land  ;  for 
those  lessons  all  rise  clear  and  pure,  like  the  Test  out  of 
Overton  Pool,  out  of  the  everlasting  ground  of  all  life 
and  truth. 

So  she  taught  Tom  every  day  in  the  week  ;  only  on 
Sundays  she  always  went  away  home,  and  the  kind  fairy 
took  her  place.  And  before  she  had  taught  Tom  many 
Sundays,  his  prickles  had  vanished  quite  away,  and  his 
skin  was  smooth  and  clean  again. 

"  Dear  me  !  "  said  the  little  girl  ;  "why,  I  know  you 
now.  You  are  the  very  same  little  chimney-sweep  who 
came  into  my  bedroom." 

"Dear  me!"  cried  Tom.  "And  I  know  you,  too, 
now.  You  are  the  very  little  white  lady  whom  I  saw  in 
bed."  And  he  jumped  at  her,  and  longed  to  hug  and 
kiss  her  ;  but  did  not,  remembering  that  she  was  a  lady 
born  ;  so  he  only  jumped  round  and  round  her  till  he 
was  quite  tired. 

And  then  they  began  telling  each  other  all  their  story 
— how  he  had  got  into  the  water,  and  she  had  fallen 
over  the  rock  ;  and  how  he  had  swum  down  to  the  sea, 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  1 85 

and  how  she  had  flown  out  of  the  window  ;  and  how 
this,  that,  and  the  other,  till  it  was  all  talked  out :  and 
then  they  both  began  over  again,  and  I  can't  say  which 
of  the  two  talked  fastest. 

And  then  they  set  to  work  at  their  lessons  again,  and 
both  liked  them  so  well  that  they  went  on  well  till  seven 
full  years  were  past  and  gone. 

You  may  fancy  that  Tom  was  quite  content  and 
happy  all  those  seven  years  ;  but  the  truth  is,  he  was 
not.  He  had  always  one  thing  on  his  mind,  and  that 
was — where  little  Bllie  went,  when  she  went  home  on 
Sundays. 

"  To  a  very  beautiful  place,  she  said." 

But  what  was  the  beautiful  place  like,  and  where  was 
it? 

Ah  !  that  is  just  what  she  could  not  say.  And  it  is 
strange,  but  true,  that  no  one  can  say  ;  and  that  those 
who  have  been  oftenest  in  it,  or  even  nearest  to  it,  can 
say  least  about  it,  and  make  people  understand  least 
what  it  is  like.  There  are  a  good  many  folks  about  the 
Other-end-of-Nowhere  (where  Tom  went  afterwards), 
who  pretend  to  know  it  from  north  to  south  as  well  as 
if  they  had  been  penny  postmen  there  ;  but,  as  they  are 
safe  at  the  Other-end-of-Nowhere,  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  million  miles  away,  what  they  say  cannot 
concern  us. 

But  the  dear,  sweet,  loving,  wise,  good,  self-sacrificing' 
people,  who  really  go  there,  can  never  tell  you  anything 
about  it,  save  that  it  is  the  most  beautiful  place  in  the 
world  ;  and,  if  you  ask  them  more,  they  grow  modest 
and  hold  their  peace,  for  fear  of  being  laughed  at  ;  and 
quite  right  they  are. 

So  all  that  good  little  Ellie  could  say  was,  that  it 
was  worth  all  the  rest  of  the  world  put  together.     And 

13 —  Water-  B ahies 


1 86  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

of  course  that  only  made  Tom  the  more  anxious  to  go 
likewise. 

"Miss  Ellie,"  he  said  at  last,  "I  will  know  why  I 
cannot  go  with  you  when  you  go  home  on  Sundays,  or 
I  shall  have  no  peace,  and  give  you  none  either. '! 

"You  must  ask  the  fairies  that." 

So  when  the  fairy,  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid,  came 
next,  Tom  asked  her. 

"  Little  boys  who  are  only  fit  to  play  with  sea-beasts 
cannot  go  there,"  she  said.  "  Those  who  go  there  must 
go  first  where  they  do  not  like,  and  do  what  they  do  not 
like,  and  help  somebody  they  do  not  like." 

"Whv,  did  Elliedothat?" 

"Ask  her." 

And  Ellie  blushed,  and  said,  "  Yes,  Tom  ;  I  did  not 
like  coming  here  at  first  ;  I  was  so  much  happier  at 
home,  where  it  is  always  Sunday.  And  I  was  afraid  of 
you,  Tom,  at  first,  because — because " 

"Because  I  was  all  over  prickles?  But  I  am  not 
prickly  now,  am  I,  Miss  Ellie?  " 

"  No,"  said  Ellie.  "  I  like  you  very  much  now  ;  and 
I  like  coming  here,  too." 

"And,  perhaps,"  said  the  fairy,  "you  will  learn  to 
like  going  where  you  don't  like,  and  helping  some  one 
that  you  don't  like,  as  Ellie  has." 

But  Tom  put  his  finger  in  his  mouth,  and  hung  his 
head  down  ;  for  he  did  not  see  that  at  all. 

So  when  Mrs.  Doasyouwouldbedoneby  came,  Tom 
asked  her  ;  for  he  thought  in  his  little  head,  "  She  is  not 
so  strict  as  her  sister,  and  perhaps  she  may  let  me  off 
more  easily." 

Ah,  Tom,  Tom,  silly  fellow  !  and  yet  I  don't  know 
why  I  should  blame  you,  while  so  many  grown  people 
have  got  the  very  same  notion  in  their  heads. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  187 

But,  when  they  try  it,  they  get  just  the  same  answer 
as  Tom  did.  For,  when  he  asked  the  second  fairy, 
she  told  him  just  what  the  first  did,  and  in  the  very 
same  words. 

Tom  was  very  unhappy  at  that.  And,  when  Ellie 
went  home  on  Sunday,  he  fretted  and  cried  all  day,  and 
did  not  care  to  listen  to  the  fairy's  stories  about  good 
children,  though  they  were  prettier  than  ever.  Indeed, 
the  more  he  overheard  of  them,  the  less  he  liked  to  listen, 
because  they  were  all  about  children  who  did  what  they 
did  not  like,  and  took  trouble  for  other  people,  and 
worked  to  feed  their  little  brothers  and  sisters  instead  of 
caring  only  for  their  play.  And,  when  she  began  to  tell 
a  story  about  a  holy  child  in  old  times,  who  was  mar- 
tyred by  the  heathen  because  it  would  not  worship  idols, 
Tom  could  bear  no  more,  and  ran  away  and  hid  among 
the  rocks. 

And,  when  Ellie  came  back,  he  was  shy  with  her,  be- 
cause he  fancied  she  looked  down  on  him,  and  thought 
him  a  coward.  And  then  he  grew  quite  cross  with  her, 
because  she  was  superior  to  him,  and  did  what  he  could 
not  do.  And  poor  Ellie  was  quite  surprised  and  sad  ; 
and  at  last  Tom  burst  out  crying  ;  but  he  would  not  tell 
her  what  was  really  in  his  mind. 

And  all  the  while  he  was  eaten  up  with  curiosity  to 
know  where  Ellie  went  to  ;  so  that  be  began  not  to  care 
for  his  playmates,  or  for  the  sea-palace  or  anything  else. 
But  perhaps  that  made  matters  all  the  easier  for  him  ; 
for  he  grew  so  discontented  with  everything  round  him 
that  he  did  not  care  to  stay,  and  did  not  care  where  he 
went 

"Well,"  he  said,  at  last,  "I  am  so  miserable  here, 
I'll  go  ;  if  only  you  will  go  with  me?  " 

'Ah  !  "  said  Ellie,  "  I  wish  I  might ;  but  the  worst  of 


u 


1 88  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

it  is,  that  the  fairy  says  that  you  must  go  alone  if  you  go 
at  all.  Now  don't  poke  that  poor  crab  about,  Tom  M 
(for  he  was  feeling  very  naughty  and  mischievous),  "or 
the  fairy  will  have  to  punish  you." 

Tom  was  very  nearly  saying,  "I  don't  care  if  she 
does  ; "  but  he  stopped  himself  in  time. 

"  I  know  what  she  wants  me  to  do,"  he  said,  whining 
most  dolefully.  "  She  wants  me  to  go  after  that  horrid 
old  Grimes.  I  don't  like  him,  that's  certain.  And  if 
I  find  him,  he  will  turn  me  into  a  chimney-sweep 
again,  I  know.  That's  what  I  have  been  afraid  of  all 
along." 

"No,  he  won't — I  know  as  much  as  that.  Nobody 
can  turn  water-babies  into  sweeps,  or  hurt  them  at  all, 
as  long  as  they  are  good." 

"Ah,"  said  naughty  Tom,  "I  see  what  you  want; 
you  are  persuading  me  all  along  to  go,  because  you  are 
tired  of  me,  and  want  to  get  rid  of  me." 

Little  Ellie  opened  her  eyes  very  wide  at  that,  and 
they  were  all  brimming  over  with  tears. 

"Oh,  Tom,  Tom  !  "  she  said,  very  mournfully — and 
then  she  cried,  "Oh,  Tom  !  where  are  you?  " 

And  Tom  cried,  "  Oh,  Ellie,  where  are  you  ?  " 

For  neither  of  them  could  see  each  other — not  the 
least.  Little  Ellie  vanished  quite  away,  and  Tom  heard 
her  voice  calling  him,  and  growing  smaller  and  smaller, 
and  fainter  and  fainter,  till  all  was  silent. 

Who  was  frightened  then  but  Tom?  He  swam  up 
and  down  among  the  rocks,  into  all  the  halls  and  cham- 
bers, faster  than  ever  he  swam  before,  but  could  not 
find  her.  He  shouted  after  her,  but  she  did  not  answer ; 
he  asked  all  the  other  children,  but  they  had  not  seen 
her  ;  and  at  last  he  went  up  to  the  top  of  the  water  and 
began  crying  and  screaming  for  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


189 


— which  perhaps  was  the  best  thing  to  do — for  she  came 
in  a  moment. 

"Oh!"  said  Tom.  "  Oh  dear,  oh  dear!  I  have 
been  naughty  to  Ellie,  and  I  have  killed  her — I  know  I 
have  killed  her." 

"  Not  quite  that,"  said 
the  fairy;  "but  I  have 
sent  her  away  home,  and 
she  will  not  come  back 
again  for  I  do  not  know 
how  long." 

And  at  that  Tom  cried 
so  bitterly  that  the  salt  sea 
was  swelled  with  his 
tears,  and  the  tide  was 
•3,954,620,819  of  an  inch 
higher  than  it  had  been 
the  day  before  :  but  per- 
haps that  was  owing  to  the 
waxing  of  the  moon.  It 
may  have  been  so  :  but  it 
is  considered  risdit  in  the 
new  philosophy,  you  know, 
to  give  spiritual  causes  for 
physical  phenomena — es- 
pecially in  parlor-tables  ; 
and,  of  course,  physical 
causes  for  spiritual  ones, 
like  thinking,  and  pray- 
ing, and  knowing  right  from  wrong.  And  so  they  odds 
it  till  it  comes  even,  as  folks  say  down  in  Berkshire. 

"How  cruel  of  you  to  send  Ellie  away!"  sobbed 
Tom.  "  However,  I  will  find  her  again,  if  I  go  to  the 
world's  end  to  look  for  her." 


190  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

The  fairy  did  not  slap  Tom,  and  tell  him  to  hold  his 
tongue  :  but  she  took  him  on  her  lap  very  kindly,  just 
as  her  sister  would  have  done  ;  and  put  him  in  mind 
how  it  was  not  her  fault,  because  she  was  wound  up 
inside,  like  watches,  and  could  not  help  doing  things 
whether  she  liked  or  not.  And  then  she  told  him  how 
he  had  been  in  the  nursery  long  enough,  and  must  go 
out  now  and  see  the  world,  if  he  intended  ever  to  be  a 
man  ;  and  how  he  must  go  all  alone  by  himself,  as  every 
one  else  that  ever  was  born  has  to  go,  and  see  with  his 
own  eyes,  and  smell  with  his  own  nose,  and  make  his 
own  bed  and  lie  on  it,  and  burn  his  own  fingers  if  he 
put  them  into  the  fire.  And  then  she  told  him  how 
many  fine  things  there  were  to  be  seen  in  the  world, 
and  what  an  odd,  curious,  pleasant,  orderly,  respectable, 
well-managed,  and,  on  the  whole,  successful  (as,  indeed, 
might  have  been  expected)  sort  of  a  place  it  was,  if 
people  would  only  be  tolerably  brave  and  honest  and 
good  in  it  ;  and  then  she  told  him  not  to  be  afraid  of 
anything  he  met,  for  nothing  would  harm  him  if  he 
remembered  all  his  lessons,  and  did  what  he  knew  wras 
right.  And  at  last  she  comforted  poor  little  Tom  so 
much  that  he  was  quite  eager  to  go,  and  wanted  to  set 
out  that  minute.  "  Only,"  he  said,  "if  I  might  see  Bllie 
once  before  I  went  ! ' ' 

"  Why  do  you  want  that  ?  " 

"Because — because  I  should  be  so  much  happier  if 
I  thought  she  had  forgiven  me." 

And  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  there  stood  Ellie, 
pmiling  and  looking  so  happy  that  Tom  longed  to  kiss 
her  ;  but  was  still  afraid  it  would  not  be  respectful,  be- 
cause she  was  a  lady  born. 

"I  am  going,  Ellie  !"  said  Tom.  "I  am  going,  if  it 
is  to  the  world's  end.  But  I  don't  like  going  at  all,  and 
that's  the  truth." 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  191 

"  Pooh  !  pooh!  pooh!"  said  the  fairy.  "You  will 
like  it  very  well  indeed,  you  little  rogue,  and  you  know 
that  at  the  bottom  of  your  heart.  But  if  you  don't,  I 
will  make  you  like  it.  Come  here,  and  see  what  hap- 
pens to  people  who  do  only  what  is  pleasant." 

And  she  took  out  one  of  her  cupboards  (she  had  all 
sorts  of  mysterious  cupboards  in  the  cracks  of  the  rocks) 
the  most  wonderful  waterproof  book,  full  of  such  photo- 
graphs as  never  were  seen.  For  she  had  found  out 
photography  (and  this  is  a  fact)  more  than  13,598,000 
years  before  anybody  was  born  ;  and,  what  is  more,  her 
photographs  did  not  merely  represent  light  and  shade, 
as  ours  do,  but  color  also,  and  all  colors,  as  you  may 
see  if  you  look  at  a  black-cock's  tail,  or  a  butterfly's 
wing,  or  indeed  most  things  that  are  or  can  be,  so  to 
speak.  And  therefore  her  photographs  were  very  curious 
and  famous,  and  the  children  looked  with  great  delight 
for  the  opening  of  the  book. 

And  on  the  title-page  was  written,  "  The  History  of 
the  great  and  famous  nation  of  the  Doasyoulikes,  who 
came  awav  from  the  country  of  Hardwork,  because 
they  wanted  to  play  on  the  Jews'  harp  all  day  long." 

In  the  first  picture  they  saw  these  Doasyoulikes  Hying 
in  the  land  of  Readymade,  at  the  foot  of  the  Happy-go- 
lucky  Mountains,  where  flapdoodle  grows  wild  ;  and  if 
you  want  to  know  what  that  is,  you  must  read  Peter 
Simple. 

They  lived  very  much  such  a  life  as  those  jolly  old 
Greeks  in  Sicily,  whom  you  may  see  painted  on  the  an- 
cient vases,  and  really  there  seemed  to  be  great  excuses 
for  them,  for  they  had  no  need  to  work. 

Instead  of  houses  they  lived  in  the  beautiful  caves  of 
tufa,  and  bathed  in  the  warm  springs  three  times  a  day  ; 
and,  as  for  clothes,  it  was  so  warm  there  that  the  gentle- 


192  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

men  walked  about  in  little  beside  a  cocked  hat  and  a 
pair  of  straps,  or  some  light  summer  tackle  of  that  kind  ; 
and  the  ladies  all  gathered  gossamer  in  autumn  (when 
they  were  not  too  lazy)  to  make  their  winter  dresses. 

They  were  very  fond  of  music,  but  it  was  too  much 
trouble  to  learn  the  piano  or  the  violin  ;  and  as  for 
dancing,  that  would  have  been  too  great  an  exertion. 
So  they  sat  on  ant-hills  all  day  long,  and  played  on  the 
Jews'  harp  ;  and,  if  the  ants  bit  them,  why  they  just  got 
up  and  went  to  the  next  ant-hill,  till  they  were  bitten 
there  likewise. 

And  they  sat  under  the  flapdoodle-trees,  and  let  the 
flapdoodle  drop  into  their  mouths  ;  and  under  the  vines, 
and  squeezed  the  grape-juice  down  their  throats  ;  and, 
if  any  little  pigs  ran  about  ready  roasted,  crying,  "  Come 
and  eat  me,"  as  was  their  fashion  in  that  country,  they 
waited  till  the  pigs  ran  against  their  mouths,  and  then 
took  a  bite,  and  were  content,  just  as  so  many  oysters 
would  have  been. 

They  needed  no  weapons,  for  no  enemies  ever  came 
near  their  land  ;  and  no  tools,  for  everything  was  ready- 
made  to  their  hand  ;  and  the  stern  old  fairy  Necessity 
never  came  near  them  to  hunt  them  up,  and  make  them 
use  their  wits,  or  die. 

And  so  on,  and  so  on,  and  so  on,  till  there  were  never 
such  comfortable,  easy-going,  happy-go-lucky  people  .in 
the  world. 

u  Well,  that  is  a  jolly  life,"  said  Tom. 

"You  think  so?  "  said  the  fairy.  "  Do  you  see  that 
great  peaked  mountain  there  behind,"  said  the  fairy, 
"with  smoke  coming  out  of  its  top?  " 

"Yes." 

"And  do  you  see  all  those  ashes,  and  slag,  and  cinders 
lying  about?  " 

"Yes." 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


193 


*'  Then  turn  over  the  next  five  hundred  years,  and  you 
will  see  what  happens  next." 


And  behold  the  mountain  had  blown  up  like  a  barrel 
of  gunpowder,    and   then    boiled   over   like   a   kettle ; 


194  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

whereby  one-third  of  the  Doasyoulikes  were  blown  into 
the  air,  and  another  third  were  smothered  in  ashes  ;  so 
that  there  was  only  one-third  left. 

"  You  see,"  said  the  fairy,  "what  conies  of  living  on 
a  burning  mountain." 

"Oh,  whv  did  you  not  warn  them?"  said  little 
Ellie. 

"  I  did  warn  them  all  that  I  could.  I  let  the  smoke 
come  out  of  the  mountain  ;  and  wherever  there  is  smoke 
there  is  fire.  And  I  laid  the  ashes  and  cinders  all  about  ; 
and  wherever  there  are  cinders,  cinders  may  be  again. 
But  they  did  not  like  to  face  facts,  my  dears,  as  very  few 
people  do  ;  and  so  they  invented  a  cock-and-bull  story, 
which,  I  am  sure,  I  never  told  them,  that  the  smoke  wras 
the  breath  of  a  giant,  whom  some  gods  or  other  had 
buried  under  the  mountain  ;  and  that  the  cinders  were 
what  the  dwarfs  roasted  the  little  pigs  whole  with  ;  and 
other  nonsense  of  that  kind.  And,  when  folks  are  in 
that  humor,  I  cannot  teach  them,  save  by  the  good  old 
birch-rod." 

And  then  she  turned  over  the  next  five  hundred 
years  :  and  there  were  the  remnant  of  the  Doasyoulikes, 
doing  as  they  liked,  as  before.  They  were  too  lazy  to 
move  away  from  the  mountain  ;  so  they  said,  "If  it  has 
blown  up  once,  that  is  all  the  more  reason  that  it  should 
not  blow  up  again."  And  they  were  few  in  number  :  but 
they  only  said,  "  The  more  the  merrier,  but  the  fewer  the 
better  fare."  However,  that  was  not  quite  true  ;  for  all 
the  flapdoodle-trees  were  killed  by  the  volcano,  and  they 
had  eaten  all  the  roast  pigs,  who,  of  course,  could  not  be 
expected  to  have  little  ones.  So  they  had  to  live  very 
hard,  on  nuts  and  roots  which  they  scratched  out  of  the 
ground  with  sticks.  Some  of  them  talked  of  sowing 
corn,  as  their  ancestors  used  to  do,  before  they  came  into 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  195 

the  land  of  Readymade  ;  but  they  had  forgotten  how  to 
make  ploughs  (they  had  forgotten  even  how  to  make 
Jews'  harps  by  this  time),  and  had  eaten  all  the  seed- 
corn  which  they  brought  out  of  the  land  of  Hardwork 
years  since  ;  and,  of  course,  it  was  too  much  trouble  to 
go  away  and  find  more.  So  they  lived  miserably  on 
roots  and  nuts,  and  all  the  weakly  little  children  had 
great  stomachs,  and  then  died. 

"Why,"  said  Tom,  "  they  are  growing  no  better  than 
savages. ' ' 

"And  look  how  ugly  they  are  all  getting,"  said 
Ellie. 

"  Yes  ;  when  people  live  on  poor  vegetables  instead  of 
roast  beef  and  plum-pudding,  their  jaws  grow  large  and 
their  lips  grow  coarse,  like  the  poor  Paddies  who  eat 
potatoes." 

And  she  turned  over  the  next  five  hundred  years. 
And  there  they  were  all  living  up  in  trees,  and  making 
nests  to  keep  off  the  rain.  And  underneath  the  trees 
lions  were  prowling  about. 

"  Why,"  said  Ellie,  "the  lions  seem  to  have  eaten  a 
good  many  of  them,  for  there  are  very  few  left  now." 

"Yes,"  said  the  fairy;  "you  see  it  was  only  the 
strongest  and  most  active  ones  who  could  climb  the 
trees,  and  so  escape." 

"But  what  great,  hulking,  broad-shouldered  chaps 
they  are,"  said  Tom  ;  "  they  are  a  rough  lot  as  ever  I 


saw. 


Yes,  they  are  getting  very  strong  now  ;  for  the  ladies 
will  not  marry  any  but  the  very  strongest  and  fiercest 
gentlemen,  who  can  help  them  up  the  trees  out  of  the 
lions'  way." 

And   she   turned  over  the   next   five  hundred  years. 
And   in  that   they  were  fewer  still,  and  stronger,  and 


196  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

fiercer  ;  but  their  feet  had  changed  shape  very  oddly,  for 
they  laid  hold  of  the  branches  with  their  great  toes,  as 
if  they  had  been  thumbs,  just  as  a  Hindoo  tailor  uses  his 
toes  to  thread  his  needle. 

The  children  were  very  much  surprised,  and  asked  the 
fairy  whether  that  was  her  doing. 

ltYes  and  no,"  she  said,  smiling.  "It  was  only 
those  who  could  use  their  feet  as  well  as  their  hands  who 
could  get  a  good  living  ;  or,  indeed,  get  married  ;  so  that 
they  got  the  best  of  everything,  and  starved  out  all  the 
rest  ;  and  those  who  are  left  keep  up  a  regular  breed 
of  toe-thumb-men,  as  a  breed  of  short-horns,  or  skye- 
terriers,  or  fancy  pigeons  is  kept  up." 

"But  there  is  a  hairy  one  among  them,"  said  little 
Ellie. 

"Ah  !"  said  the  fairy,  "  that  will  be  a  great  man  in 
his  time,  and  chief  of  all  the  tribe." 

And,  when  she  turned  over  the  next  five  hundred 
years,  it  was  true. 

For  this  hairy  chief  had  had  hairy  children,  and  they 
hairier  children  still  ;  and  every  one  wished  to  marry 
hairy  husbands,  and  have  hairy  children  too  ;  for  the 
climate  was  growing  so  damp  that  none  but  the  hairy 
ones  could  live  :  all  the  rest  coughed  and  sneezed,  and 
had  sore  throats,  and  went  into  consumptions,  before 
they  could  grow  up  to  be  men  and  women. 

Then  the  fairy  turned  over  the  next  five  hundred 
years.     And  they  were  fewer  still. 

"  Why,  there  is  one  on  the  ground  picking  up  roots," 
said  Ellie,  "and  he  cannot  walk  upright." 

No  more  he  could  ;  for  in  the  same  way  that  the 
shape  of  their  feet  had  altered,  the  shape  of  their  backs 
had  altered  also. 

"Why,"  cried  Tom,  "  I  declare  they  are  all  apes." 


A  FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


197 


"  Something  fearfully  like  it,  poor  foolish  creatures," 
said  the  fairy.      "They  are  grown  so  stupid  now  that 


they  can  hardly  think  :  for  none  of  them  have  used 
their  wits  for  many  hundred  years.  They  have  almost 
forgotten,  too,  how  to  talk.     For  each  stupid  child  for- 


I98  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

got  some  of  the  words  it  heard  from  its  stupid  parents, 
and  had  not  wits  enough  to  make  fresh  words  for  itself. 
Beside,  they  are  grown  so  fierce  and  suspicious  and  brutal 
that  they  keep  out  of  each  other's  way,  and  mope  and 
sulk  in  the  dark  forests,  never  hearing  each  other's  voice, 
till  they  have  forgotten  almost  what  speech  is  like.  I 
am  afraid  they  will  all  be  apes  very  soon,  and  all  by 
doing  only  what  they  liked." 

And  in  the  next  five  hundred  years  they  were  all 
dead  and  gone,  by  bad  food  and  wild  beasts  and  hunters  ; 
all  except  one  tremendous  old  fellow  with  jaws  like  a 
jack,  who  stood  full  seven  feet  high  ;  and  M.  Du  Chaillu 
came  up  to  him,  and  shot  him,  as  he  stood  roaring  and 
thumping  his  breast.  And  he  remembered  that  his 
ancestors  had  once  been  men,  and  tried  to  say,  "Am  I 
not  a  man  and  a  brother?"  but  had  forgotten  how  to 
use  his  tongue  ;  and  then  he  had  tried  to  call  for  a 
doctor,  but  he  had  forgotten  the  word  for  one.  So  all 
he  said  was  "  Ubboboo  !  "  and  died. 

And  that  was  the  end  of  the  great  and  jolly  nation  of 
the  Doasyoulikes.  And,  when  Torn  and  Ellie  came  to 
the  end  of  the  book,  they  looked  very  sad  and  solemn  ; 
and  they  had  good  reason  so  to  do,  for  they  really  fan- 
cied that  the  men  were  apes,  and  never  thought,  in  their 
simplicity,  of  asking  whether  the  creatures  had  hippo- 
potamus majors  in  their  brains  or  not  ;  in  which  case,  as 
you  have  been  told  already,  they  could  not  possibly  have 
been  apes,  though  they  were  more  apish  than  the  apes 
of  all  the  aperies. 

"  But  could  you  not  have  saved  them  from  becoming 
apes?"  said  little  Ellie,  at  last. 

"At  first,  my  dear;  if  only  they  would  have  behaved 
like  men,  and  set  to  work  to  do  what  they  did  not  like. 
But  the  longer  they  waited,  and  behaved  like  the  dumb 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


I99 


beasts,  who  only  do  what  they  like,  the  stupider  and 
clumsier  they  grew  ;  till  at  last  they  were  past  all  cure, 
for  they  had  thrown  their  own  wits  away.  It  is  such 
things  as  this  that  help  to  make  me  so  ugly,  that  I  know 
not  when  I  shall  grow  fair. 

"And  where  are  they  all  now?  "  asked  Ellie. 

"Exactly  where  they  ought  to  be,   my  dear.'* 

"Yes?"  said  the  fairy, 
solemnly,  half  to  herself,  as 
she  closed  the  wonderful 
book.  "  Folks  say  now  that 
I  can  make  beasts  into  men, 
by  circumstance,  and  selec- 
tion, and  competition,  and 
so  forth.  Well,  perhaps  they 
are  right  ;  and  perhaps, 
again,  they  are  wrong.  That 
is  one  of  the  seven  things 
which  I  am  forbidden  to  tell, 
till  the  coming  of  the  Cocq- 
cigrues  ;  and,  at  all  events,  it 
is  no  concern  of  theirs. 
Whatever  their  ancestors 
were,  men  they  are  ;  and  I 
advise  them  to  behave  as 
such,  and  act  accordingly. 
But  let  them  recollect  this, 

that  there  are  two  sides  to  every  question,  and  a  down- 
hill as  well  as  an  uphill  road  ;  and,  if  I  can  turn  beasts 
into  men,  I  can,  by  the  same  laws  of  circumstance,  and 
selection,  and  competition,  turn  men  into  beasts.  You 
were  very  near  being  turned  into  a  beast  once  or  twice, 
little  Tom.  Indeed,  if  you  had  not  made  up  your  mind 
to  go  on  this  journey,  and  see  the  world,  like  an  English- 


200  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

man,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  you  would  have  ended  as  an 
eft  in  a  pond." 

"Oh,  dear  me  !"  said  Tom  ;  "sooner  than  that,  and 
be  all  over  slime,  I'll  go  this  minute,  if  it  is  to  the 
world's  end." 

"And  Nature,  the  old  Nurse,  took 
The  child  upon  her  knee, 
Saying,  '  Here  is  a  story  book 
Thy  father  hath  written  for  thee. 

"  '  Come  wander  with  me,'  she  said, 
1  Into  regions  yet  untrod, 
And  read  what  is  still  unread 
In  the  manuscripts  of  God.' 

"  And  he  wandered  away  and  away 
With  Nature,  the  dear  old  Nurse, 
Who  sang  to  him  night  and  day 
The  rhymes  of  the  universe." 

LONGFEUXW. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


OW,"    said 
Tom,       "I 
am  ready  to 
be  off,  if  it's 
to  the  world's  end." 
ktAh!"     said      the 
fairy,  ' '  that  is  a  brave, 
good    bov.       But    von 
must   go   farther    than 
the  world's  end,  if  you 
want      to      find      Mr. 
Grimes  ;    for   he    is  at 
the      Oth  er-end-of- No- 
where.    You    must  go 
to     Shiny    Wall,     and 
through  the  white  gate 
that  never  was  opened  ; 
and  then  you  will  come 
to  Peacepool,  and  Mo- 
ther    Carey's     Haven, 
where  the  good  whales 
go  when  they  die.     And  there  Mother  Carey  will  tell 
you  the  way  to  the  Other-end-of-Nowhere,  and  there  you 
will  find  Mr.  Grimes. ' ' 


14 —  Water-Babies 


£201) 


202  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

"  Oh,  dear  !"  said  Tom.  "But  I  do  not  know  my 
way  to  Shiny  Wall,  or  where  it  is  at  all." 

"  Little  boys  must  take  the  trouble  to  find  out  things 
for  themselves,  or  they  will  never  grow  to  be  men  ;  so 
that  you  must  ask  all  the  beasts  in  the  sea  and  the  birds 
in  the  air,  and  if  you  have  been  good  to  them,  some  of 
them  will  tell  you  the  way  to  Shiny  Wall." 

"Well,"  said  Tom,  "it  will  be  a  long  journey,  so  I 
had  better  start  at  once.  Good-bye,  Miss  Ellie  ;  you 
know  I  am  getting  a  big  boy,  and  I  must  go  out  and  see 
the  world." 

"  I  know  you  must,"  said  Ellie;  "but  you  will  not 
forget  me,  Tom.     I  shall  wait  here  till  you  come." 

And  she  shook  hands  with  him,  and  bade  him  good- 
bye. Tom  longed  very  much  again  to  kiss  her  ;  but  he 
thought  it  would  not  be  respectful,  considering  she  was 
a  lady  born  ;  so  he  promised  not  to  forget  her  :  but  his 
little  whirl-about  of  a  head  was  so  full  of  the  notion  of 
going  out  to  see  the  world,  that  it  forgot  her  in  five 
minutes  :  however,  though  his  head  forgot  her,  I  am 
glad  to  say  his  heart  did  not. 

So  he  asked  all  the  beasts  in  the  sea,  and  all  the  birds 
in  the  air,  but  none  of  them  knew  the  way  to  Shiny 
Wall.     For  why  ?     He  was  still  too  far  down  south. 

Then  he  met  a  ship,  far  larger  than  he  had  ever 
seen — a  gallant  ocean-steamer,  with  a  long  cloud  of 
smoke  trailing  behind  ;  and  he  wondered  how  she 
went  on  without  sails,  and  swam  up  to  her  to  see.  A 
school  of  dolphins  were  running  races  round  and  round 
her,  going  three  feet  for  her  one,  and  Tom  asked  them 
the  way  to  Shiny  Wall  :  but  they  did  not  know.  Then 
he  tried  to  find  out  how  she  moved,  and  at  last  he  saw 
her  screw,  and  was  so  delighted  with  it  that  he  played 
under  her  quarter  all  day,  till  he  nearly  had  his  nose 


A    FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A    LAND-BABY. 


203 


knocked  off  by  the  fans,  and  thought  it  time  to  move. 
Then  he  watched  the  sailors  upon  deck,  and  the  ladies, 
with  their  bonnets  and  parasols  :  but  none  of  them  could 


see  him,  because  their  eyes  were  not  opened — as,  indeed, 
most  people's  eyes  are  not. 

At  last  there  came  out  into  the  quarter-gallery  a  very 


204  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

pretty  lady,  in  deep  black  widow's  weeds,  and  in  her 
arms  a  baby.  She  leaned  over  the  quarter-gallery,  and 
looked  back  and  back  toward  England  far  away  ;  and  as 
she  looked  she  sang  : 

I. 

"Soft,  soft  wind,  from  out  the  sweet  south  sliding, 
Waft  thy  silver  cloud-webs  athwart  the  siunmer  sea  ; 

Thin,  thin  threads  of  mist  on  dewy  fingers  twining 
Weave  a  veil  of  dappled  gauze  to  shade  my  babe  and  me. 

II. 

"  Deep,  deep  Love,  within  thine  own  abyss  abiding, 
Pour  TJiyself  abroad,  0  Lord,  on  earth  and  air  and  sea  ; 

Worn,  tueary  hearts  within  Thy  holy  temple  lading, 
Shield  from  sorrow,  sin,  and  shame  my  helpless  babe  and  me!' 

Her  voice  was  so  soft  and  low,  and  the  music  of  the 
air  so  sweet,  that  Tom  conld  have  listened  to  it  all  day. 
But  as  she  held  the  baby  over  the  gallery  rail,  to  show 
it  the  dolphins  leaping  and  the  water  gurgling  in  the 
ship's  wake,  lo  !  and  behold,  the  baby  saw  Tom. 

He  was  quite  sure  of  that  ;  for  when  their  eyes  met, 
the  baby  smiled  and  held  out  its  hands  ;  and  Tom  smiled 
and  held  out  his  hands  too ;  and  the  baby  kicked  and 
leaped,  as  if  it  wanted  to  jump  overboard  to  him. 

"What  do  you  see,  my  darling?"  said  the  lady; 
and  her  eyes  followed  the  baby's  till  she,  too,  caught 
sight  of  Tom,  swimming  about  among  the  foam-beads 
below. 

She  gave  a  little  shriek  and  start  ;  and  then  she  said, 
quite  quietly,  "  Babies  in  the  sea  ?  Well,  perhaps,  it  is 
Mie  happiest  place  for  them;"  and  waved  her  hand  to 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


205 


Tom,  and  cried,  "Wait  a  little,  darling,  only  a  little  : 
and  perhaps  we  shall  go  with  you  and  be  at  rest. ' ' 

And  at  that  an  old  nurse,  all  in  black,  came  out  and 
talked  to  her  and  drew  her  in.  And  Tom  turned  away 
northward,  sad  and 
wondering;  and 
watched  the  great 
steamer  slide  away 
into  the  dusk,  and  the 
lights  on  board  peep 
out  one  by  one,  and 
die  out  again,  and  the 
long  bar  of  smoke  fade 
away  into  the  evening 
mist,  till  all  was  out 
of  sight. 

And  he  swam  north- 
ward again,  day  after 
day,  till  at  last  he  met 
the  King  of  the  Her- 
rings, with  a  curry- 
comb growing  out  of 
his  nose,  and  a  sprat 
in  his  mouth  for  a 
cigar,  and  asked  him 
the  way  to  Shiny  Wall; 
so  he  bolted  his  sprat 
head  foremost,  and 
said  : 

"  If  I  were  you,  young  gentleman,  I  should  go  to  the 
Allalonestone,  and  ask  the  last  of  the  Gairfowl.  She  is 
of  a  very  ancient  clan,  very  nearly  as  ancient  as  my 
own  ;  and  knows  a  good  deal  which  these  modern  up- 
starts don't,  as  ladies  of  old  houses  are  likely  to  d^.' 


2o6 


THE   WATER-BABIES. 


Tom  asked  his  way  to  her,  and  the  King  of  the  Her- 
rings told  him  very 
kindly,  for  he  was 
a  courteous  old  gen- 
tleman of  the  old 
school,  though  he 
was  horribly  ugly> 
and  strangely  be- 
dizened, too,  like 
the  old  dandies 
who  lounge  in  the 
club-house  win- 
dows. 

But  just  as  Tom 

had    thanked    him 

l  and  set  off,  he  called 

after  him:  u  Hi  !  I 

say,  can  you  fly  ?  ' y 

"  I  never  tried,'* 
says  Tom.  "Why?" 

11  Because,  if  you 
can,  I  should  ad- 
vise you  to  say 
nothing  to  the  old 
1  a  d  v  about  it. 
There  ;  take  a  hint. 
Good-bye." 

And  away  Tom 
went  for  seven 
days  and  seven 
nights  due  north- 
west, till  he  came 
to  a  great  codbank, 


the  like  of  which  he  never  said  before.      The 


great 


cod 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  20/ 

lay  below  in  tens  of  thousands,  and  gobbled  shell-fkh 
all  day  long  ;  and  the  blue  sharks  roved  about  in  hun- 
dreds, and  gobbled  them  when  they  came  up.  So  they 
ate,  and  ate,  and  ate  each  other,  as  they  had  done  since 
the  making  of  the  world  ;  for  no  man  had  come  here 
yet  to  catch  them,  and  find  out  how  rich  old  Mother 
Carey  is. 

And  there  he  saw  the  last  of  the  Gairfowl,  standing  up 
on  the  Allalonestone,  all  alone.  And  a  verv  grand  old 
lady  she  was,  full  three  feet  high,  and  bolt  upright,  like 
some  old  Highland  chieftainess.  She  '  ad  on  a  black 
velvet  gown,  and  a  white  pinner  and  ?  ron,  and  a  very 
high  bridge  to  her  nose  (which  is  a  s  ;e  mark  of  hiodi 
breeding),  and  a  large  pair  of  whi'  spectacles  on  it 
which  made  her  look  rather  odd  :  bu  it  was  the  ancient 
fashion  of  her  house. 

And,  instead  of  wings,  she  had  two  little  feathery 
arms,  with  which  she  fanned  herself,  and  complained  of 
the  dreadful  heat  :  and  she  kept  on  crooning  an  old  song 
to  herself,  which  she  learnt  when  she  was  a  little  baby- 
bird,  long  ago — 

"  Two  little  birds  they  sat  on  a  stone, 
One  swam  away,  and  then  tliere  was  one, 
With  a  fal-lal-la-lady. 

"  The  other  swam  after,  and  then  there  was  none > 
And  so  the  poor  stone  zvas  left  all  alone  ; 
With  a  fal-lal-la-lady \" 

It  was  "flew"  away,  properly,  and  not  "swam" 
away  :  but,  as  she  could  not  fly,  she  had  a  right  to  altet 
it.  However,  it  was  a  very  fit  song  for  her  to  sing,  be- 
cause she  was  a  lady  herself. 


20b"  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

Tom  came  up  to  her  very  humbly,  and  made  his  bow  ; 
and  the  first  thing  she  said  was — 

u  Have  you  wings  ?     Can  you  fly  ?  " 

"Oh,  dear,  no,  ma'am  ;  I  should  not  think  of  such 
a  thing,"  said  cunning  little  Tom. 

"  Then  I  shall  have  great  pleasure  in  talking  to  you, 
my  dear.  It  is  quite  refreshing  nowadays  to  see  any- 
thing without  wings.  They  must  all  have  wings,  for- 
sooth, now,  every  new  upstart  sort  of  bird,  and  fly. 
What  can  they  want  with  flying,  and  raising  themselves 
above  their  proper  station  in  life  ?  In  the  days  of  my 
ancestors  no  birds  ever  thought  of  having  wings,  and 
did  very  well  without  ;  and  now  they  all  laugh  at  me 
because  I  keep  to  the  good  old  fashion.  Why,  the 
very  marrocks  and  dovekies  have  got  wings,  the  vulgar 
creatures,  and  poor  little  ones  enough  they  are  ;  and 
my  own  cousins  too,  the  razor-bills,  who  are  gentlefolk 
born,  and  ought  to  know  better  than  to  ape  their  in- 
feriors." 

And  so  she  was  running  on,  while  Tom  tried  to  get 
in  a  word  edgeways  ;  and  at  last  he  did,  when  the  old 
lady  got  out  of  breath,  and  began  fanning  herself  again  ; 
and  then  he  asked  if  she  knew  the  way  to  Shiny  Wall. 

"Shiny  Wall?  Who  should  know  better  than  I? 
We  all  came  from  Shiny  Wall,  thousands  of  years  ago, 
when  it  was  decently  cold,  and  the  climate  was  fit  for 
gentlefolk  ;  but  now,  what  with  the  heat,  and  what  with 
these  vulgar-winged  things  who  fly  up  and  down  and  eat 
everything,  so  that  gentlepeople's  hunting  is  all  spoilt, 
and  one  cannot  really  get  one's  living,  or  hardly  venture 
off  the  rock  for  fear  of  being  flown  against  by  some 
creature  that  would  not  have  dared  to  come  within  a 
mile  of  one  a  thousand  years  ago — what  was  I  saying? 
Why,  we  have  quite  gone  down  in  the  world,  my  dear, 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  209 

and  have  nothing  left  but  our  honor.  And  I  am  the 
last  of  my  family.  A  friend  of  mine  and  I  came  and 
settled  on  this  rock  when  we  were  young,  to  be  out  of 
the  way  of  low  people.  Once  we  were  a  great  nation, 
and  spread  over  all  the  Northern  Isles.  But  men  shot 
us  so,  and  knocked  us  on  the  head,  and  took  our  eggs — 
why,  if  you  will  believe  it,  they  say  that  on  the  coast  of 
Labrador  the  sailors  used  to  lay  a  plank  from  the  rock 
on  board  the  thing  called  their  ship,  and  drive  us  along 
the  plank  by  hundreds,  till  we  tumbled  down  into  the 
ship's  waist  in  heaps  ;  and  then,  I  suppose,  they  ate  us, 
the  nasty  fellows  !  Well — but — what  was  I  saying  ? 
At  last,  there  were  none  of  us  left,  except  on  the  old 
Gairfowlskerry,  just  off  the  Iceland  coast,  up  which  no 
man  could  climb.  Even  there  we  had  no  peace  ;  for 
one  day,  when  I  was  quite  a  young  girl,  the  land  rocked, 
and  the  sea  boiled,  and  the  sky  grew  dark,  and  all  the 
air  was  filled  with  smoke  and  dust,  and  down  tumbled 
the  old  Gairfowlskerry  into  the  sea.  The  dovekies  and 
marrocks,  of  course,  all  flew  away  ;  but  we  were  too 
proud  to  do  that.  Some  of  us  were  dashed  to  pieces  and 
some  drowned  ;  and  those  who  were  left  got  away 
to  Eldey,  and  the  dovekies  tell  me  they  are  all  dead 
now,  and  that  another  Gairfowlskerry  has  risen  out  of 
the  sea  close  to  the  old  one,  but  that  it  is  such  a  poor 
flat  place  that  it  is  not  safe  to  live  on  :  and  so  here  I  am 
left  all  alone." 

This  was  the  Gairfowl's  story,  and,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  it  is  every  word  of  it  true. 

"  If  you  only  had  had  wings  !  "  said  Tom  ,  **  then  you 
might  all  have  flown  away,  too." 

u  Yes,  young  gentleman  :  and  if  people  are  not  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies,  and  forget  that  noblesse  oblige,  they 
will  find  it  as  easy  to  get  on  in  the  world  as  other  people 


2IO  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

who  don't  care  what  they  do.  Why,  if  I  had  not  recol- 
lected that  noblesse  oblige,  I  should  not  have  been  all 
alone  now."     And  the  poor  old  lady  sighed. 

"  How  was  that,  ma'am?" 

u  Why,  my  dear,  a  gentleman  came  hither  with  me, 
and,  after  we  had  been  here  some  time,  he  wanted  to 
marry — in  fact,  he  actually  proposed  to  me.  Well,  1 
can't  blame  him  ;  I  was  young,  and  very  handsome 
then,  I  don't  deny  :  but,  you  see,  I  could  not  hear  of 
such  a  thing,  because  he  was  my  deceased  sister's  hus- 
band, you  see?  " 

"Of  course  not,  ma'am,"  said  Tom  ;  though,  of  course, 
he  knew  nothing  about  it.  "She  was  very  much  dis- 
eased, I  suppose?  " 

"  You  do  not  understand  me,  my  dear.  I  mean  that, 
being  a  lady,  and  with  right  and  honorable  feelings,  as 
our  house  always  has  had,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  snub  him, 
and  howk  him,  and  peck  him  continually,  to  keep  him 
at  his  proper  distance  ;  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  once 
pecked  him  a  little  too  hard,  poor  fellow,  and  he  tumbled 
backwards  off  the  rock,  and — really,  it  was  very  unfor- 
tunate, but  it  was  not  my  fault — a  shark  coming  by  saw 
him  flapping,  and  snapped  him  up.  And  since  then  I 
have  lived  all  alone — 

1  With  a  fal-lal-la-lady! 

And  soon  I  shall  be  gone,  my  little  dear,  and  nobody 
will  miss  me ;  and  then  the  poor  stone  will  be  left  all 
alone." 

"  But,  please,  which  is  the  way  to  Shiny  Wall  ?  "  said 
Tom. 

"Oh,  you  must  go,  my  little  dear — you  must  go.  Let 
me  see — I  am  sure — that  is — really,  my  poor  old  brains 


A    FAIRY   TALE   FOJt   A    LAND-BABY.  211 

are  getting  quite  puzzled.  Do  you  know,  my  little 
dear,  I  am  afraid,  if  you  want  to  know,  you  must  ask 
some  of  these  vulgar  birds  about,  for  I  have  quite  for- 
gotten." 

And  the  poor  old  Gairfowl  began  to  cry  tears  of  pure 
oil  ;  and  Tom  was  quite  sorry  for  her  ;  and  for  himself, 
too,  for  he  was  at  his  wit's  end  whom  to  ask. 

But  by  there  came  a  flock  of  petrels,  who  are  Mother 
Carey's  own  chickens  ;  and  Tom  thought  them  much 
prettier  than  Lady  Gairfowl,  and  so  perhaps  they  were  ; 
for  Mother  Carey  had  had  a  great  deal  of  fresh  experience 
between  the  time  that  she  invented  the  Gairfowl  and  the 
time  that  she  invented  them.  They  flitted  along  like  a 
flock  of  black  swallows,  and  hopped  and  skipped  from 
wave  to  wave,  lifting  up  their  little  feet  behind  them  so 
daintily,  and  whistling  to  each  other  so  tenderly,  that 
Tom  fell  in  love  with  them  at  once,  and  called  them  to 
know  the  wav  to  Shinv  Wall. 

"Shiny  Wall?  Do  you  want  Shinv  Wall?  Then 
come  with  us,  and  we  will  show  you.  We  are  Mother 
Carey's  own  chickens,  and  she  sends  us  out  over  all 
the  seas,  to  show  the  good  birds  the  way  home." 

Tom  was  delighted,  and  swam  off  to  them,  after  he 
had  made  his  bow  to  the  Gairfowl.  But  she  would  not 
return  his  bow  :  but  held  herself  bolt  upright,  and  wept 
tears  of  oil  as  she  sang  : 

"And  so  the  poor  stone  was  left  all  alone  ; 
With  a  fal-lal-la-lady" 

But  she  was  wrong  there  ;  for  the  stone  was  not  left 
all  alone :  and  the  next  time  that  Tom  goes  by  it,  he  will 
see  a  sight  worth  seeing1. 

The  old  Gairfowl  is  gone  already  :  but  there  are  better 


212  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

things  come  in  her  place  ;  and  when  Tom  comes  he  will 
see  the  fishing-smacks  anchored  there  in  hundreds,  from 
Scotland,  and  from  Ireland,  and  from  the  Orkneys,  and 
the  Shetlands,  and  from  all  the  Northern  ports,  full  of 
the  children  of  the  old  Norse  Vikings,  the  masters  of 
the  sea.  And  the  men  will  be  hauling  in  the  great  cod 
by  thousands,  till  their  hands  are  sore  from  the  lines  ; 
and  they  will  be  making  cod-liver  oil  and  guano,  and 
salting  down  the  fish  ;  and  there  will  be  a  man-of-war 
steamer  there  to  protect  them,  and  a  lighthouse  to  show 
them  the  way  ;  and  you  and  I,  perhaps,  shall  go  some 
day  to  the  Allalonestone  to  the  great  summer  sea-fair, 
and  dredge  strange  creatures  such  as  man  never  saw  be- 
fore ;  and  we  shall  hear  the  sailors  boast  that  it  is  not 
the  worst  jewel  in  Queen  Victorians  crown,  for  there  are 
eighty  miles  of  codbank,  and  food  for  all  the  poor  folk 
in  the  land.  That  is  what  Tom  will  see,  and  perhaps 
you  and  I  shall  see  it  too.  And  then  we  shall  not  be 
sorry  because  we  cannot  get  a  Gairfowl  to  stuff,  much 
less  find  Gairfowl  enough  to  drive  them  into  stone  pens 
and  slaughter  them,  as  the  old  Norsemen  did,  or  drive 
them  on  board  along  a  plank  till  the  ship  was  victualled 
with  them,  as  the  old  '.English  and  French  rovers  used 
to  do,  of  whom  dear  old  Hakluyt  tells  :  but  we  shall 
remember  what  Mr.  Tennyson  says  :  how 

"  The  old  order  changeth,  giving  place  to  the  new, 
And  God  fulfils  himself  in  many  ways." 

And  now  Tom  was  all  agog  to  start  for  Shiny  Wall  ; 
but  the  petrels  said  no.  They  must  go  first  to  Allfowls- 
ness,  and  wait  there  for  the  great  gathering  of  all  the 
sea-birds,  before  they  start  for  their  summer  breeding- 
places  far  away  in  the  Northern  Isles  ;  and  there  they 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


213 


would  be  sure  to  find  some  birds  which  were  going  to 
Shiny  Wall  ;  but  where  Allfowlsness  was,  he  must  prom- 


ise  never  to  tell,  lest  men  should  go  there  and  shoo* 
the  birds,  and  stuff  them,  and  put  them  into  stupid  xuu- 


214  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

seums,  instead  of  leaving  them  to  play  and  breed  and 
work  in  Mother  Carey's  water-garden,  where  they  ought 
to  be. 

So  where  Allfowlsness  is  nobody  must  know  ;  and  all 
that  is  to  be  said  about  it  is,  that  Tom  waited  there 
many  days  ;  and  as  he  waited,  he  saw  a  very  curious 
sight.  On  the  rabbit  burrows  on  the  shore  there  gath- 
ered hundreds  and  hundreds  of  hoodie-crows,  such  as 
you  see  in  Cambridgeshire.  And  they  made  such  a 
noise  that  Tom  came  on  shore  and  went  up  to  see  what 
was  the  matter. 

And  there  he  found  them  holding  their  great  caucus, 
which  they  hold  every  year  in  the  North  ;  and  all  their 
stump-orators  were  speechifying  ;  and  for  a  tribune,  the 
speaker  stood  on  an  old  sheep's  skull. 

And  they  cawed  and  cawed,  and  boasted  of  all  the 
clever  things  they  had  done  ;  how  many  lambs'  eyes 
they  had  picked  out,  and  how  many  dead  bullocks  they 
had  eaten,  and  how  many  young  grouse  they  had  swal- 
lowed whole,  and  how  many  grouse-eggs  they  had  flown 
away  with,  stuck  on  the  point  of  their  bills,  which  is 
the  hoodie-crow's  particularly  clever  feat,  of  which  he  is 
as  proud  as  a  gipsy  is  of  doing  the  hokanybaro  ;  and  what 
that  is,  I  won't  tell  you. 

And  at  last  they  brought  out  the  prettiest,  neatest 
young  lady-crow  that  ever  was  seen,  and  set  her  in  the 
middle,  and  all  began  abusing  and  vilifying,  and  rating, 
and  bullyragging  at  her,  because  she  had  stolen  no 
grouse-eggs,  and  had  actually  dared  to  say  that  she  would 
not  steal  any.  So  she  was  to  be  tried  publicly  by  their 
laws  (for  the  hoodies  always  try  some  offenders  in  their 
great  yearly  parliament).  And  there  she  stood  in  the 
middle,  in  her  black  gown  and  gray  hood,  looking  as 
meek  and  as  neat  as  a  Quakeress,  and  they  all  bawled 
at  her  at  once-^ 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  215 

And  it  was  in  vain  that  she  pleaded — 

That  she  did  not  like  grouse-eggs  ; 

That  she  coidd  get  her  living  very  ivell  without  them  ; 

That  she  was  afraid  to  eat  them,  for  fear  of  the  game- 
keepers ; 

That  she  had  not  the  heart  to  eat  them,  because  the  grouse 
were  such  pretty,  kind,  jolly  birds  ; 

And  a  dozen  reasons  more. 

For  all  the  other  scanl-crows  set  upon  her,  and  pecked 
her  to  death  there  and  then,  before  Tom  could  come  to 
help  her  ;  and  then  flew  away,  very  proud  of  what  they 
had  done. 

Now,  was  not  this  a  scandalous  transaction  ? 

But  they  are  true  republicans,  these  hoodies,  who  do 
every  one  just  what  he  likes,  and  make  other  people  do 
so,  too  ;  so  that,  for  any  freedom  of  speech,  thought,  or 
action  which  is  allowed  among  them,  they  might  as  well 
be  American  citizens  of  the  new  school. 

But  the  fairies  took  the  good  crow,  and  gave  her  nine 
new  sets  of  feathers  running,  and  turned  her  at  last  into 
the  most  beautiful  bird  of  paradise  with  a  green  velvet 
suit  and  a  long  tail,  and  sent  her  to  eat  fruit  in  the 
Spice  Islands,  where  cloves  and  nutmegs  grow. 

And  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  settled  her  account  with 
the  wicked  hoodies.  For,  as  they  flew  away,  what 
should  they  find  but  a  nasty  dead  dog  ? — on  which  they 
all  set  to  work,  pecking  and  gobbling  and  cawing  and 
quarrelling  to  their  hearts'  content.  But  the  moment 
afterwards  they  all  threw  up  their  bills  into  the  air,  and 
gave  one  screech  ;  and  then  turned  head  over  heels  back' 
ward,  and  fell  down  dead,  one  hundred  and  twentv-three 
of  them  at  once.     For  why?     The  fairy  had  told  the 


216  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

gamekeeper  in  a  dream  to  fill  the  dead  dog  full  of  strycfr 
nine  ;  and  so  he  did. 

And  after  a  while  the  birds  began  to  gather  at  All- 
fowlsness,  in  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  blackening 
all  the  air  ;  swans  and  brant  geese,  harlequins  and  eiders, 
harolds  and  garganeys,  smews  and  goosanders,  divers 
and  loons,  grebes  and  dovekies,  auks  and  razor-bills, 
gannets  and  petrels,  skuas  and  terns,  with  gulls  beyond 
all  naming  or  numbering  ;  and  they  paddled  and 
washed  and  splashed  and  combed  and  brushed  them- 
selves on  the  sand,  till  the  shore  was  white  with  feathers  ; 
and  they  quacked  and  clucked  and  gabbled  and  chat- 
tered and  screamed  and  whooped  as  they  talked  over 
matters  with  their  friends,  and  settled  where  they  were 
to  go  and  breed  that  summer,  till  you  might  have  heard 
them  ten  miles  off;  and  lucky  it  was  for  them  that  there 
was  no  one  to  hear  them  but  the  old  keeper,  w7ho  lived 
all  alone  upon  the  Ness,  in  a  turf  hut  thatched  with 
heather  and  fringed  round  with  great  stones  flung  across 
the  roof  by  bent  ropes,  lest  the  winter  gales  should  blow 
the  hut  right  away.  But  he  never  minded  the  birds  nor 
hurt  them,  because  they  were  not  in  season  ;  indeed,  he 
minded  but  two  things  in  the  world,  and  these  were  his 
Bible  and  his  grouse  ;  for  he  was  as  good  an  old  Scotch- 
man as  ever  knit  stockings  on  a  winter's  night  :  only, 
when  all  the  birds  were  going,  he  toddled  out,  and  took 
off  his  cap  to  them,  and  wished  them  a  merry  journey 
and  a  safe  return  ;  and  then  gathered  up  all  the  feathers 
which  they  had  left,  and  cleaned  them  to  sell  down 
south,  and  make  feather-beds  for  stuffy  people  to  lie  on. 

Then  the  petrels  asked  this  bird  and  that  whether 
they  would  take  Tom  to  Shiny  Wall  :  but  one  set  was 
going  to  Sutherland,  and  one  to  the  Shetlands,  and  one 
to  Norway,  and  one  to  Spitzbergen,  and  one  to  Iceland, 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


21'; 


and  one  to  Greenland  :  but  none  would  go  to  Shiny 
Wall.  So  the  good-natured  petrels  said  that  they  would 
show  him  part  of  the  way  themselves,  but  they  were  only 
going  as  far  as  Jan  Mayen's  Land  ;  and  after  that  he  must 
shift  for  himself. 

And     then     all 
the  birds  rose  up,  ____  ^^^^^T"^^^-; 

and  streamed 
away  in  long  black  4^ 
lines,  north  and 
northeast,  and 
northwest,  across 
the  bright  blue 
summer  skv  ;  and 
their  cry  was  like 
ten  thousand  packs 
of  hounds  and  ten 
thousand  peals  of 
bells.  Only  the 
puffins  stayed  be- 
hind, and  killed 
the  young  rabbits, 
and  laid  their  e^o-s 
in  the  rabbit  bur- 
rows ;  which  was 
rough  practice,  cer- 
tainly ;  but  a  man 
must  see  to  his 
own  family. 

And,  as  Tom  and  the  petrels  went  northeastward,  it 
began  to  blow  right  hard  ;  for  the  old  gentleman  in  the 
gray  greatcoat,  who  looks  after  the  big  copper  boiler, 
in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  had  got  behindhand  with  his 
work  ;  so  Mother  Carey  had  sent  an  electric  message  to 

J.5 —  Watcr-Babief 


2l8  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

him  for  more  steam  ;  and  now  the  steam  was  coming,  as 
much  in  an  hour  as  ought  to  have  come  in  a  week,  puff- 
ing and  roaring  and  swishing  and  swirling,  till  you  could 
not  see  where  the  sky  ended  and  the  sea  began.  But 
Tom  and  the  petrels  never  cared,  for  the  gale  was  right 
abaft,  and  away  they  went  over  the  crests  of  the  billows, 
merry  as  so  many  flying-fish. 

And  at  last  they  saw  an  ugly  sight — the  black  side 
of  a  great  ship,  water-logged  in  the  trough  of  the  sea. 
Her  funnel  and  her  masts  were  overboard,  and  swayed 
and  surged  under  her  lee  ;  her  decks  were  swept  as 
clean  as  a  barn  floor,  and  there  was  no  living  soul  on 
board. 

The  petrels  flew  up  to  her,  and  wailed  round  her  ;  for 
they  were  very  sorry,  indeed,  and  also  they  expected  to 
find  some  salt  pork  ;  and  Tom  scrambled  on  board  of 
her  and  looked  round,  frightened  and  sad. 

And  there,  in  a  little  cot,  lashed  tight  under  the  bul- 
wark, lay  a  baby,  fast  asleep  ;  the  very  same  baby,  Tom 
saw  at  once,  which  he  had  seen  in  the  singing  lady's 
arms. 

He  went  up  to  it,  and  wanted  to  wake  it  ;  but  behold, 
from  under  the  cot  jumped  a  little  black  and  tan  terrier 
dog,  and  began  barking  and  snapping  at  Tom>  and  would 
not  let  him  touch  the  cot. 

Tom  knew  the  dog's  teeth  could  not  hurt  him  :  but 
at  least  it  could  shove  him  away,  and  did  ;  and  he  and 
the  dog  fought  and  struggled,  for  he  wanted  to  help  the 
baby,  and  did  not  want  to  throw  the  poor  dog  overboard  ; 
but,  as  they  were  struggling,  there  came  a  tall  green 
sea,  and  walked  in  over  the  weather  side  of  the  ship,  and 
swept  them  all  into  the  waves. 

"Oh,  the  baby,  the  baby  !"  screamed  Tom  :  but  the 
next  moment  he  did  not  scream  at  aU  ;  for  he  saw  the 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


219 


cot  settling  down  through  the 


green 


water,  with  the 


baby,  smiling  in  it,  fast  asleep  ;  and  he  saw  the  fairies 
come  up  from  below,  and  carry  baby  and  cradle  gently 
down  in  their  soft  arms  ;  and  then  he  knew  it  was  all 
right,  and  that  there  would  be  a  new  water-baby  in  St. 
Brandan's  Isle. 

And  the  poor  little 


dog? 

Why,  after  he  had 
kicked  and  coughed  a 
little,  he  sneezed  so 
hard  that  he  sneezed 
himself  clean  out  of  his 
skin,  and  turned  into 
a  water-dog,  and 
jumped  and  danced 
round  Tom,  and  ran 
over  the  crests  of  the 
waves,  and  snapped 
at  the  jelly-fish  and 
the  mackerel,  and  fol- 
lowed Tom  the  whole 
way  to  the  Other- 
end-of-Nowhere. 

Then  they  went  on 
again  till  they  began 
to  see  the  peak  of  Jan 
Mayen's  Land,   stand- 


ing up  like  a  white  sugar-loaf,  two  miles  above  the  clouds. 

And  there  they  fell  in  with  a  white  flock  of  molly- 
mocks,  who  were  feeding  on  a  dead  whale. 

"These  are  the  fellows  to  show  you  the  way,"  said 
Mother  Carey's  chickens  ;  "we  cannot  help  you  farther 
north.     We  don't  like  to  get  among  the  ice  pack  for 


220  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

fear  it  should  nip  our  toes  :  but  the  molly  dare  fly  any- 
where." 

So  the  petrels  called  to  the  mollys  :  but  they  were  so 
busy  and  greedy,  gobbling  and  pecking  and  spluttering 
and  fighting  over  the  blubber,  that  they  did  not  take  the 
least  notice. 

"Come,  come,"  said  the  petrels,  "  you  lazy  greedy 
lubbers,  this  young  gentleman  is  going  to  Mother  Carey, 
and,  if  you  don't  attend  on  him,  you  won't  earn  your 
discharge  from  her,  you  know." 

"Greedy  we  are,"  says  a  great  fat  old  molly,  "but 
lazy  we  ain't  ;  and,  as  for  lubbers,  we're  no  more  lubbers 
than  you.     Let's  have  a  look  at  the  lad." 

And  he  flapped  right  into  Tom's  face,  and  stared  at 
him  in  the  most  impudent  way  (for  the  mollys  are 
audacious  fellows,  as  all  whalers  know),  and  then  asked 
him  where  he  hailed  from,  and  what  land  he  sighted 
last. 

And,  when  Tom  told  him,  he  seemed  plseased,  and 
said  he  was  a  good  plucked  one  to  have  got  so  far. 

"Come  along,  lads,"  he  said  to  the  rest,  "and  give 
this  little  chap  a  cast  over  the  pack,  for  Mother  Carey's 
sake.  We've  eaten  blubber  enough  for  to-day,  and 
we'll  e'en  work  out  a  bit  of  our  time  by  helping  the 
lad." 

So  the  mollys  took  Tom  up  on  their  backs,  and  flew 
off  with  him,  laughing  and  joking — and  oh,  how  they 
did  smell  of  train  oil  ! 

"  Who  are  you,  you  jolly  birds?"  asked  Tom. 

"  We  are  the  spirits  of  the  old  Greenland  skippers  (as 
every  sailor  knows),  who  hunted  here,  right  whales  and 
horse- whales,  full  hundreds  of  years  agone.  But,  be- 
cause we  were  saucy  and  greedy,  we  were  all  turned 
into  mollys,  to  eat  whale's  blubber  all  our  days.     But 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


221 


lubbers  we  are  none,  and  could  sail  a  ship  now  against 
any  man  in  the  North  seas,  though  we  don't  hold  with 
this  new-fangled  steam.  And  it's  a  shame  of  those 
black  imps  of  petrels  to  call  us  so  ;  but  because  they're 
her  grace's  pets,  they  think  they  may  say  anything  they 
like." 

"And  who  are  you  ?  "  asked  Tom  of  him,  for  he  saw 
that  he  was  the  king  of  all  the  birds. 


tc 


My  name  is  Hendrick  Hudson,  and  a  right  good 
skipper  was  I  ;  and  my  name  will  last  to  the  world's 
end,  in  spite  of  all  the  wrong  I  did.  For  I  discovered 
Hudson  River,  and  I  named  Hudson's  Bay  ;  and  many 
have  come  in  my  wake  that  dared  not  have  shown  me 
the  way.  But  I  was  a  hard  man  in  my  time,  that's 
truth,  and  stole  the  poor  Indians  off  the  coast  of  Maine, 


222  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

and  sold  them  for  slaves  down  in  Virginia ;  and  at  last  I 
was  so  cruel  to  my  sailors,  here  in  these  very  seas,  that 
they  set  me  adrift  in  an  open  boat,  and  I  never  was 
heard  of  more.  So  now  I'm  the  king  of  all  mollys,  till 
I've  worked  out  my  time." 

And  now  they  came  to  the  edge  of  the  pack,  and  be- 
yond it  they  could  see  Shiny  Wall  looming,  through 
mist,  aud  snow,  and  storm.  But  the  pack  rolled  hor- 
ribly upon  the  swell,  and  the  ice  giants  fought  and 
roared,  and  leapt  upon  each  other's  backs,  and  ground 
each  other  to  powder,  so  that  Tom  was  afraid  to  venture 
among  them,  lest  he  should  be  ground  to  powder  too. 
And  he  was  the  more  afraid,  when  he  saw  lying  among 
the  ice  pack  the  wrecks  of  many  a  gallant  ship  ;  some 
with  masts  and  yards  all  standing,  some  with  the  sea- 
men frozen  fast  on  board.  Alas,  alas,  for  them  !  They 
were  all  true  English  hearts  ;  and  thev  came  to  their  end 
like  o-ood  knights-errant,  in  searching  for  the  white  gate 
that  never  was  opened  yet. 

But  the  good  mollys  took  Tom  and  his  dog  up,  and 
flew  with  them  safe  over  the  pack  and  the  roaring 
ice  giants,  and  set  them  down  at  the  foot  of  Shiny 
Wall. 

"And  where,  is  the  gate?"  asked  Tom. 

"There  is  no  gate,"  said  the  mollys. 

u  No  gate?  "  cried  Tom,  aghast. 

"None  ;  never  a  crack  of  one,  and  that's  the  whole 
of  the  secret,  as  better  fellows,  lad,  than  you  have  found 
to  their  cost  ;  and  if  there  had  been,  they'd  have  killed 
by  now  every  right  whale  that  swims  the  sea." 

"What  am  I  to  do,  then?" 

11  Dive  under  the  floe,  to  be  sure,  if  you  have  pluck." 

"I've  not  come  so  far  to  turn  now,"  said  Tom ;  "so 
here  goes  for  a  header. ' ' 


A  FAIRY  TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  223 

"A  lucky  voyage  to  you,  lad,"  said  the  mollys  ;  "  we 
knew  you  were  one  of  the  right  sort.     So  good-bye. " 

"Why  don't  you  come  too?"  asked  Tom. 

But  the  mollys  only  wailed  sadly,  "  We  can't  go  yet, 
we  can't  go  yet,"  aud  flew  away  over  the  pack. 

So  Tom  dived  under  the  great  white  gate  which 
never  was  opened  yet,  and  weut  on  in  black  darkness, 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  for  seven  days  and  seven  nights. 
And  yet  he  was  not  a  bit  frightened.  Why  should  he 
be?  He  was  a  brave  English  lad,  whose  business  is  to 
go  out  and  see  all  the  world. 

And  at  last  he  saw  the  light,  and  clear,  clear  water 
overhead  ;  and  up  he  came  a  thousand  fathoms,  among 
clouds  of  sea-moths,  which  fluttered  round  his  head. 
There  were  moths  with  pink  heads  and  wings  and  opal 
bodies,  that  flapped  about  slowly  ;  moths  with  brown 
wings,  that  flapped  about  quickly  ;  yellow  shrimps,  that 
hopped  and  skipped  most  quickly  of  all  ;  and  jellies  of 
all  the  colors  in  the  world,  that  neither  hopped  nor 
skipped,  but  only  dawdled  and  yawned,  and  would  not 
get  out  of  his  way.  The  dog  snapped  at  them  till  his 
jaws  were  tired  ;  but  Tom  hardly  minded  them  at  all, 
he  was  so  eager  to  get  to  the  top  of  the  water,  and  see 
the  pool  where  the  good  whales  go. 

And  a  very  large  pool  it  was,  miles  and  miles  across, 
though  the  air  was  so  clear  that  the  ice  cliffs  on  the  oppo~ 
site  side  looked  as  if  they  were  close  at  hand.  All  round 
it  the  ice  cliffs  rose,  in  walls  and  spires  and  battlements, 
and  caves  and  bridges,  and  stories  and  galleries,  in 
which  the  ice-fairies  live,  and  drive  away  the  storms  and 
clouds,  that  Mother  Carey's  pool  may  lie  calm  from 
year's  end  to  year's  end.  And  the  sun  acted  policeman, 
and  walked  round  outside  every  day,  peeping  just  over 
the  top  of  the  ice  wall,  to  see  that  all  went  right ;  and 


224  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

now  and  then  he  played  conjuring  tricks,  or  had  an  ex~ 
hibition  of  fireworks,  to  amuse  the  ice-fairies.  For  he 
would  make  himself  into  four  or  five  suns  at  once,  or 
paint  the  sky  with  rings  and  crosses  and  crescents  of 
white  fire,  and  stick  himself  in  the  middle  of  them,  and 
wink  at  the  fairies  ;  and  I  daresay  they  were  much 
amused  ;  for  anything' s  fun  in  the  country. 

And  there  the  good  whales  lav,  the  happy,  sleepy 
beasts,  upon  the  still  oily  sea.  They  were  all  right 
whales,  you  must  know,  and  finners,  and  razor-backs, 
and  bottle-noses,  and  spotted  sea-unicorns  with  long 
ivory  horns.  But  the  sperm  whales  are  such  raging, 
ramping,  roaring,  rumbustious  fellows,  that,  if  Mother 
Carey  let  them  in,  there  would  be  no  more  peace  in 
Peacepool.  So  she  packs  them  away  in  a  great  pond  by 
themselves  at  the  South  Pole,  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
three  miles  south-southeast  of  Mount  Erebus,  the  great 
volcano  in  the  ice  ;  and  there  they  butt  each  other 
with  their  ugly  noses,  day  and  night,  from  year's  end  to 
year's  end. 

But  here  there  were  only  good  and  quiet  beasts,  lying 
about  like  the  black  hulls  of  sloops  and  blowing  every 
now  and  then  jets  of  white  steam,  or  sculling  round  with 
their  huge  mouths  open,  for  the  sea-moths  to  swim  down 
their  throats.  There  were  no  threshers  there  to  thresh 
their  poor  old  backs,  or  sword-fish  to  stab  their  stomachs, 
or  saw-fish  to  rip  them  up,  or  ice-sharks  to  bite  lumps 
out  of  their  sides,  or  whalers  to  harpoon  and  lance  them. 
They  were  quite  safe  and  happy  there  ;  and  all  they  had 
to  do  was  to  wait  quietly  in  Peacepool  till  Mother 
Carey  sent  for  them  to  make  them  out  of  old  beasts  into 
new. 

Tom  swam  up  to  the  nearest  whale,  and  asked  the 
way  to  Mother  Carey. 


(225) 


226  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

"  There  she  sits  in  the  middle,"  says  the  whale. 

Tom  looked  ;  but  he  could  see  nothing  in  the 
middle  of  the  pool,  but  one  peaked  iceberg  ;  and  he 
said  so. 

"That's  Mother  Carey,"  said  the  whale,  "as  you 
will  find  when  you  get  to  her.  There  she  sits  making 
old  beasts  into  new  all  the  year  round." 

"  How  does  she  do  that?" 

"  That's  her  concern,  not  mine,"  said  the  old  whale  ; 
and  yawned  so  wide  (for  he  was  very  large)  that  there 
swam  into  his  mouth  943  sea-moths,  13,846  jelly-fish  no 
bigger  than  pins'  heads,  a  string  of  salpse  nine  yards 
long,  and  forty-three  little  ice-crabs,  who  gave  each 
other  a  parting  pinch  all  round,  tucked  their  legs  und^r 
their  stomachs,  and  determined  to  die  decently,  like 
Julius  Caesar. 

"I  suppose,"  said  Tom,  "she  cuts  up  a  great  whale 
like  you  into  a  whole  shoal  of  porpoises?  " 

At  which  the  old  whale  laughed  so  violently  that  he 
coughed  up  all  the  creatures ;  who  swam  away  again, 
very  thankful  at  having  escaped  out  of  that  terrible 
whalebone  net  of  his,  from  which  bourne  no  traveller 
returns  ;  and  Tom  went  on  to  the  iceberg,  wondering. 

And,  when  he  came  near  it,  it  took  the  form  of  the 
grandest  old  lady  he  had  ever  seen — a  white  marble 
lady,  sitting  on  a  white  marble  throne.  And  from  the 
foot  of  the  throne  there  swum  away,  out  and  out  into 
the  sea,  millions  of  new-born  creatures,  of  more  shapes 
and  colors  than  man  ever  dreamed.  And  they  were 
Mother  Carey's  children,  whom  she  makes  out  of  the 
sea-water  all  day  long. 

He  expected,  of  course — like  some  grown  people  who 
ought  to  know  better — to  find  her  snipping,  piecing, 
fitting,  stitching,  cobbling,  basting,  filing,  planing,  ham- 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


227 


mering,  turning,  polishing,  moulding,  measuring,  chis- 
elling, clipping,  and  so  forth,  as  men  do  when  they  go  to 
work  to  make  anything. 

But,  instead  of  that,  she  sat  quite  still  with  her  chin 
upon  her  hand,  look- 
ing down  into  the 
sea  with  two  great 
grand  blue  eyes,  as 
blue  as  the  sea  it- 
self. Her  hair  was 
as  white  as  the 
snow — for  she  was 
very  old— in  fact,  as 
old  as  anything 
which  you  are  likely 
to  come  across,  ex- 
cept the  difference 
between  right  and 
wrong. 

And,  when  she 
saw  Tom,  she  looked 
at  him  very  kindly. 

"What  do  you 
want,  my  little  man? 
It  is  a  long  time 
since  I  have  seen  a 
water-baby  here." 

Tom  told  her  his 
errand,  and  asked 
the  way  to  the  Other-end-of- Nowhere. 

"  You  ought  to  know  yourself,  for  you  have  been  there 
already." 

"Have  I,  ma'am?     I'm  sure  I  forget  all  about  it." 

"Then  look  at  me." 


228  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

And,  as  Tom  looked  into  her  great  blue  eyes,  he  recol- 
lected the  way  perfectly. 

Now,  was  not  that  strange  ? 

"Thank  you,  ma'am,"  said  Tom.  "Then  I  won't 
trouble  your  ladyship  any  more  ;  I  hear  you  are  very 
busy. ' ' 

"I  am  never  more  busy  than  I  am  now,"  she  said, 
without  stirring  a  ringer. 

ik  I  heard,  ma'am,  that  you  were  always  making  new 
beasts  out  of  old." 

' '  So  people  fancy.  But  I  am  not  going  to  trouble 
myself  to  make  things,  my  little  dear.  I  sit  here  and 
make  them  make  themselves." 

"  You  are  a  clever  fairy,  indeed,"  thought  Tom.  And 
he  was  quite  right. 

That  is  a  grand  trick  of  good  old  Mother  Carey's,  and 
a  grand  answer,  which  she  has  had  occasion  to  make 
several  times  to  impertinent  people. 

There  was  once,  for  instance,  a  fairy  who  was  so  clever 
that  she  found  out  how  to  make  butterflies.  I  don't 
mean  sham  ones  ;  no  :  but  real  live  ones,  which  would 
fly,  and  eat,  and  lay  eggs,  and  do  everything  that  they 
ought  ;  and  she  was  so  proud  of  her  skill  that  she  went 
flying  straight  off  to  the  North  Pole,  to  boast  to  Mothei 
Carey  how  she  could  make  butterflies. 

But  Mother  Carey  laughed. 

"Know,  silly  child,"  she  said,  "that  any  one  can 
make  things,  if  they  will  take  time  and  trouble  enough  : 
but  it  is  not  every  one  who,  like  me,  can  make  things 
make  themselves." 

But  people  do  not  yet  believe  that  Mother  Carey  is  as 
clever  as  all  that  comes  to  ;  and  they  will  not  till  they, 
too,  go  the  journey  to  the  Other-end-of-Nowhere. 

"And  now,  my  pretty  little  man,"  said  Mother  Careyt 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


229 


"you  are  sure  you  know  the  way  to  the  Other-end-of- 
Nowhere?" 

Tom  thought ;  and  behold,  he  had  forgotten  it  utterly. 

i 'That  is  because  you  took  your  eyes  off  me." 


Tom  looked  at  her  again,  and  recollected  ;  and  then 
looked  away,  and  forgot  in  an  instant. 

"  But  what  am  I  to  do,  ma'am?  For  I  can't  keep 
looking  at  you  when  I  am  somewhere  else." 


230  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

11  You  must  do  without  me,  as  most  people  have  to  do, 
for  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  thousandths  of  their 
lives  ;  and  look  at  the  dog  instead  ;  for  he  knows 
the  way  well  enough,  and  will  not  forget  it.  Besides, 
you  may  meet  some  very  queer-tempered  people  there, 
who  will  not  let  you  pass  without  this  passport  of  mine, 
which  you  must  hang  round  your  neck  and  take  care 
of ;  and,  of  course,  as  the  dog  will  always  go  behind 
you,  you  must  go  the  whole  way  backward." 

"Backward  !  "  cried  Tom.  "Then  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  see  my  way." 

"On  the  contrary,  if  you  look  forward,  you  will  not 
see  a  step  before  you,  and  be  certain  to  go  wrong  ;  but, 
if  you  look  behind  you,  and  watch  carefully  whatever 
you  have  passed,  and  especially  keep  your  eye  on  the 
dog,  who  goes  by  instinct,  and  therefore  can't  go  wrong, 
then  you  will  know  what  is  coming  next,  as  plainly  as 
if  you  saw  it  in  a  looking-glass." 

Tom  was  very  much  astonished  :  but  he  obeyed  her, 
for  he  had  learnt  always  to  believe  what  the  fairies  told 
him. 

"So  it  is,  my  dear  child,"  said  Mother  Carey  ;  "and 
I  will  tell  you  a  story,  which  will  show  you  that  I  am 
perfectly  right,  as  it  is  my  custom  to  be. 

"Once  on  a  time,  there  were  two  brothers.  One 
was  called  Prometheus,  because  he  always  looked  before 
him,  and  boasted  that  he  was  wise  beforehand.  The 
other  was  called  Epimetheus,  because  he  always  looked 
behind  him,  and  did  not  boast  at  all  ;  but  said  humbly, 
like  an  Irishman,  that  he  had  sooner  prophesy  after  the 
event. 

"Well,  Prometheus  wras  a  very  clever  fellow,  of 
course,  and  invented  all  sorts  of  wonderful  things.  But, 
unfortunately,  when  they  were  set  to  work,  to  work  was 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  23 1 

just  what  they  would  not  do ;  wherefore  very  little  has 
come  of  them,  and  very  little  is  left  of  them  ;  and  now 
nobody  knows  what  they  were,  save  a  few  archaeological 
old  gentlemen  who  scratch  in  queer  corners,  and  find 
little  there  save  Ptinum  Furem,  Blaptem  Mortisagam, 
Acarum  Horridnm,  Ti  11  earn  Laciniarum. 

"But  Epimetheus  was  a  very  slow  fellow,  certainly, 
and  went  among  men  for  a  clod,  and  a  muff,  and  a 
milksop,  and  a  slowcoach,  and  a  bloke,  and  a  boodle, 
and  so  forth.  And  very  little  he  did,  for  many  years  : 
but  what  he  did,  he  never  had  to  do  over  again. 

"And  what  happened  at  last?  There  came  to  the 
two  brothers  the  most  beautiful  creature  that  ever  was 
seen,  Pandora  by  name  ;  which  means,  All  the  gifts  of 
the  gods.  But  because  she  had  a  strange  box  in  her 
hand,  this  fanciful,  forecasting,  suspicious,  prudential, 
theoretical,  deductive,  prophesying  Prometheus,  who 
was  always  settling  what  was  going  to  happen,  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  pretty  Pandora  and  her  box. 

"But  Epimetheus  took  her  and  it,  as  he  took  every- 
thing that  came  ;  and  married  her  for  better  for  worse,  as 
every  man  ought,  whenever  he  has  even  the  chance  of  a 
good  wife.  And  they  opened  the  box  between  them,  of 
course,  to  see  what  was  inside  :  for,  else,  of  what  possible 
use  could  it  have  been  to  them  ? 

"And  out  flew  all  the  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to  ;  all 
the  children  of  the  four  great  bogies,  Self-will,  Igno- 
rance, Fear,  and  Dirt — for  instance  : 

Measles,  Famines, 

Monks,  Quacks, 

Scarlatina,  Unpaid  bills, 

Idols,  Tight  stays, 

Hooping-coughs,  Potatoes, 


232  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

Popes,  Bad  zvine, 

Wars,  Despots, 

Peacemongers,  Demagogues, 

And,  worst  of  all,  Naughty  Boys  and  Girls. 

But  one  thing  remained  at  the  bottom  of  the  box,  and 
that  was,  Hope. 

"  So  Epimetheus  got  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  as  most 
men  do  in  this  world  :  but  he  got  the  three  best  things 
in  the  world  into  the  bargain — a  good  wife,  and  experi- 
ence, and  hope  :  while  Prometheus  had  just  as  much 
trouble,  and  a  great  deal  more  (as  you  will  hear),  of  his 
own  making  ;  with  nothing  beside,  save  fancies  spun  out 
of  his  own  brain,  as  a  spider  spins  her  web  out  of  hei 
stomach. 

"And  Prometheus  kept  on  looking  before  him  so  fai 
ahead,  that  as  he  was  running  about  with  a  box  of  luci 
fers  (which  were  the  only  useful  things  he  ever  invented, 
and  do  as  much  harm  as  good),  he  trod  on  his  own  nose, 
and  tumbled  down  (as  most  deductive  philosophers  do), 
whereby  he  set  the  Thames  on  fire  ;  and  they  have  hardly 
put  it  out  again  yet.  So  he  had  to  be  chained  to  the 
top  of  a  mountain,  with  a  vulture  by  him  to  give  him 
a  peck  whenever  he  stirred,  lest  he  should  turn  the 
whole  world  upside  down  with  his  prophecies  and  his 
theories. 

u  But  stupid  old  Epimetheus  went  working  and  grub- 
bing on,  with  the  help  of  his  wife  Pandora,  always  look- 
ing behind  him  to  see  what  had  happened,  till  he  really 
learnt  to  know  now  and  then  what  would  happen  next  ; 
and  understood  so  well  which  side  his  bread  was  buttered, 
and  which  way  the  cat  jumped,  that  he  began  to  make 
things  which  would  work,  and  go  on  working,  too  ;  to 
till  and  drain  the  ground,  and  to  make  looms,  and  ships, 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


233 


and  railroads,  and  steam  ploughs,  and  electric  telegraphs, 
and  all  the  things  which  you  see  in  the  Great  Exhibi- 
tion ;  and  to  foretell  famine,  and  bad  weather,  and  the 
price  of  stocks,  and  (what  is  hardest  of  all)  the  next 
vagary  of  the  great  idol  Whirligig,  which  some  call 
Public  Opinion  ;  till  at  last  he  grew  as  rich  as  a  Jew  and 
as  fat  as  a  farmer,  and  people  thought  twice  before  they 
meddled  with  him,  but  only  once  before  they  asked  him 


to  help  them  ;  for,  because  he  earned  his  money  well,  he 
could  afford  to  spend  it  well  likewise. 

"And  his  children  are  the  men  of  science,  who  get 
good  lasting  work  done  in  the  world  ;  but  the  children 
of  Prometheus  are  the  fanatics,  and  the  theorists,  and 
the  bigots,  and  the  bores,  and  the  noisy,  windy  people, 
who  go  telling  silly  folk  what  will  happen,  instead  of 
looking  to  see  what  has  happened  already." 

lO — h  ater-Babies 


234 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


Now,  was  not  Mother  Carey's  a  wonderful  story  ? 
And,  I  am  happy  to  say,  Tom  believed  it,  every  word. 

For  so  it  happened  to  Tom  likewise.  He  was  very 
sorely  tried  ;  for  though,  by  keeping  the  dog  to  heels 
(or  rather  to  toes,  for  he  had  to  walk  backward),  he  could 
see  pretty  well  which  way  the  dog  was  hunting,  yet  it 
was  much  slower  work  to  go  backwards  than  to  go  for- 
wards. But,  what  was  more  trying  still,  no  sooner  had 
he  got  out  of  Peacepool  than  there  came  running  to 
him  all  the  conjurors,  fortune-tellers,  astrologers,  proph- 
esiers,  projectors,  prestigiators,  as  many  as  were  in  those 
parts  (and  there  are  too  many  of  them  everywhere), 
Old  Mother  Shipton  on  her  broomstick,  with  Merlin, 
Thomas  the  Rhymer,  Gerbertus,  Rabanus  Maurus,  Nos- 
tradamus, Zadkiel,  Raphael,  Moore,  Old  Nixon,  and  a 
good  many  in  black  coats  and  white  ties  who  might 
have  known  better,  considering  in  what  century  they 
were  born,  all  bawling  and  screaming  at  him,  "Look 
a-head,  only  look  a-head ;  and  we  will  show  you  what 
man  never  saw  before,  and  right  away  to  the  end  of  the 
world!" 

But  I  am  proud  to  say  that,  though  Tom  had  not 
been  to  Cambridge — for,  if  he  had,  he  would  have  cer- 
tainly been  senior  wrangler — he  was  such  a  little  dogged, 
hard,  gnarly,  foursquare  brick  of  an  English  boy,  that 
he  never  turned  his  head  round  once  all  the  way  from 
Peacepool  to  the  Other-end-of-Nowhere :  but  kept  his 
eye  on  the  dog,  and  let  him  pick  out  the  scent,  hot  or 
cold,  straight  or  crooked,  wet  or  dry,  up  hill  or  down 
dale  ;  by  which  means  he  never  made  a  single  mistake, 
and  saw  all  the  wonderful  and  hitherto  by-no-mortal- 
man-imagined  things,  which  it  is  my  duty  to  relate  to 
you  in  the  next  chapter. 


A  FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY. 

"Come  to  me,  0  ye  children  ! 
For  I  hear  you  at  your  play  ; 
And  the  questions  that  perplexed  me 
Have  vanished  quite  away. 

"  Ye  open  the  Eastern  windows, 
That  look  towards  the  sun, 
Where  thoughts  are  singing  swallows, 
And  the  brooks  of  morning  run. 


235 


"  For  what  are  all  our  contrivings 
And  the  wisdom  of  our  books, 
When  compared  with  your  caresses, 
And  the  gladness  of  your  looks  ? 

"  Ye  are  better  than  all  the  ballads 
That  ever  were  sung  or  said  ; 
For  ye  are  living  poems, 
And  all  the  rest  are  dead." 

LONGFEI^OW. 


CHAPTER  VIII.  and  LAST. 


ERE  begins  the  never- 

to-be-too-much-stud- 

ied    account   of    the 

nine  -  hundred  -and 

ninety-ninth  part  of 

the     wonderful    things 

which    Tom    saw   on    his 

journey  to  the  Other-end- 

of-Nowhere  ;     which     all 

good    little    children    are 

requested  to  read  ;  that,  if 

ever  they  °:et  to  the  Other- 

end-of-Nowhere,    as    they 

may    very    probably    do, 

they    may  not   burst   out 

laughing,    or   try    to   run 

away,    or    do    any    other 

silly  vulgar  thing   which 

may  offend  Mrs.    Bedoue- 

byasyoudid. 

Now,  as  soon    as  Tom 
had    left     Peacepool,     he 
came  to  the  white  lap  of 
the  great  sea-mother,  ten  thousand  fathoms  deep  ;  where 
(236) 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  237 

she  makes  world-pap  all  day  long,  for  the  steam-giants 
to  knead,  and  the  fire-giants  to  bake,  till  it  has  risen 
and  hardened  into  mountain-loaves  and  island-cakes. 

And  there  Tom  was  very  near  being  kneaded  up  in 
the  world-pap,  and  turned  into  a  fossil  water-baby  ; 
which  would  have  astonished  the  Geological  Society 
of  New  Zealand  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
hence. 

For,  as  he  walked  along  in  the  silence  of  the  sea- 
twilight,  on  the  soft  white  ocean  floor,  he  was  aware  of 
a  hissing,  and  a  roaring,  and  a  thumping,  and  a  pump- 
ing, as  of  all  the  steam-engines  in  the  world  at  once. 
And,  when  he  came  near,  the  water  grew  boiling  hot  ; 
not  that  that  hurt  him  in  the  least :  but  it  also  grew  as 
foul  as  gruel  ;  and  every  moment  he  stumbled  over  dead 
shells,  and  fish,  and  sharks,  and  seals,  and  whales,  which 
had  been  killed  by  the  hot  water. 

And  at  last  he  came  to  the  great  sea-serpent  himself, 
lying  dead  at  the  bottom  ;  and  as  he  was  too  thick  to 
scramble  over,  Tom  had  to  walk  round  him  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  and  more,  which  put  him  out  of  his 
path  sadly  ;  and,  when  he  had  got  round,  he  came  to 
the  place  called  Stop.  And  there  he  stopped,  and  just 
in  time. 

For  he  was  on  the  edge  of  a  vast  hole  in  the  bottom  of 
the  sea,  up  which  was  rushing  and  roaring  clear  steam 
enough  to  work  all  the  engines  in  the  world  at  once  ;  so 
clear,  indeed,  that  it  was  quite  light  at  moments  ;  and 
Tom  could  see  almost  up  to  the  top  of  the  water 
above,  and  down  below  into  the  pit  for  nobody  knows 
how  far. 

But,  as  soon  as  he  bent  his  head  over  the  edge,  he 
got  such  a  rap  on  the  nose  from  pebbles,  that  he  jumped 
back  again  ;  for  the  steam,  as  it  rushed  up,  rasped  away 


i3S  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

<he  sides  of  the  hole,  and  hurled  it  up  into  the  sea  in  a 
shower  of  mud  and  gravel  and  ashes  ;  and  then  it  spread 
all  around,  and  sank  again,  and  covered  in  the  dead  fish 
so  fast,  that  before  Tom  had  stood  there  five  minutes  he 
was  buried  in  silt  up  to  his  ankles,  and  began  to  be 
afraid  that  he  should  have  been  buried  alive. 

And  perhaps  he  would  have  been,  but  that  while  he 
was  thinking,  the  whole  piece  of  ground  on  which  he 
stood  was  torn  off  and  blown  upwards,  and  away  flew 
Tom  a  mile  up  through  the  sea,  wondering  what  was 
coming  next. 

At  last  he  stopped — thump  !  and  found  himself  tight 
in  the  legs  of  the  most  wonderful  bogy  which  he  had 
ever  seen. 

It  had  I  don't  know  how  many  wings,  as  big  as  the 
sails  of  a  windmill,  and  spread  out  in  a  ring  like  them  ; 
and  with  them  it  hovered  over  the  steam  which  rushed 
up,  as  a  ball  hovers  over  the  top  of  a  fountain.  And  for 
every  wing  above  it  had  a  leg  below,  with  a  claw  like  a 
comb  at  the  tip,  and  a  nostril  at  the  root  ;  and  in  the 
middle  it  had  no  stomach  and  one  eye  ;  and  as  for  its 
mouth,  that  was  all  on  one  side,  as  the  madreporiform 
tubercle  in  a  star-fish  is.  Well,  it  was  a  very  strange 
beast  ;  but  no  stranger  than  some  dozens  which  you 
may  see. 

"What  do  you  want  here,"  it  cried  quite  peevishly, 
11  getting  in  my  way  ?  "  and  it  tried  to  drop  Tom  :  but  he 
held  on  tight  to  its  claws,  thinking  himself  safer  where 
he  was. 

So  Tom  told  him  who  he  was,  and  what  his  errand 
was.     And  the  thing  winked  its  one  eye,  and  sneered  : 

11  I  am  too  old  to  be  taken  in  in  that  way.  You  are 
come  after  gold — I  know  you  are." 

"Gold  !     What  is  gold?"     And  really  Tom  did  not 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  239 

know  ;  but  the  suspicious  old  bogy  would  not  believe 
him. 

But  after  a  while  Tom  began  to  understand  a  little. 
For,  as  the  vapors  came  up  out  of  the  hole,  the  bogy 
smelt  them  with  his  nostrils,  and  combed  them  and 
sorted  them  with  his  combs  ;  and  then,  when  they 
steamed  up  through  them  against  his  wings,  they  were 
changed  into  showers  and  streams  of  metal.  From  one 
wing  fell  gold-dust,  and  from  another  silver,  and  from 
another  copper,  and  from  another  tin,  and  from  another 
lead,  and  so  on,  and  sank  into  the  soft  mud,  into  veins 
and  cracks,  and  hardened  there.  Whereby  it  comes  to 
pass  that  the  rocks  are  full  of  metal. 

But,  all  of  a  sudden,  somebody  shut  off  the  steam 
below,  and  the  hole  was  left  empty  in  an  instant  ;  and 
then  down  rushed  the  water  into  the  hole,  in  such  a 
whirlpool  that  the  bogy  spun  round  and  round  as  fast  as 
a  teetotum.  But  that  was  all  in  his  day's  work,  like 
a  fair  fall  with  the  hounds  ;  so  all  he  did  was  to  say  to 
Tom— 

"Now  is  your  time,  youngster,  to  get  down,  if  you 
are  in  earnest,  which  I  don't  believe." 

"You'll  soon  see,"  said  Tom  ;  and  away  he  went,  as 
bold  as  Baron  Munchausen,  and  shot  down  the  rushing 
cataract  like  a  salmon  at  Ballisodare. 

And,  when  he  got  to  the  bottom,  he  swam  till  he  was 
washed  on  shore  safe  upon  the  Other-end-of-Nowhere  ; 
and  he  found  it,  to  his  surprise,  as  most  other  people  do, 
much  more  like  This-end-of-Somewhere  than  he  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  expecting. 

And  first  he  went  through  Waste-paper-land,  where  all 
the  stupid  books  lie  in  heaps,  up  hill  and  down  dale, 
like  leaves  in  a  winter  wood  ;  and  there  he  saw  people 
digging  and  grubbing   among  them,   to   make   worse 


240  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

books  out  of  bad  ones,  and  thrashing  chaff  to  save  the 
dust  of  it  ;  and  a  very  good  trade  they  drove  thereby, 
especially  among  children. 

Then  he  went  by  the  sea  of  slops,  to  the  mountain  of 
messes,  and  the  territory  of  tuck,  where  the  ground  was 
very  sticky,  for  it  was  all  made  of  bad  toffee  (not  Ever  ton 
toffee,  of  course),  and  full  of  deep  cracks  and  holes 
choked  with  wind-fallen  fruit,  and  green  gooseberries, 
and  sloes,  and  crabs,  and  whinberries,  and  hips  and 
haws,  and  all  the  nastv  things  which  little  children  will 
eat,  if  they  can  get  them.  But  the  fairies  hide  them 
out  of  the  way  in  that  country  as  fast  as  they  can,  and 
very  hard  work  they  have,  and  of  very  little  use  it  is. 
For  as  fast  as  they  hide  away  the  old  trash  foolish  and 
wricked  people  make  fresh  trash  full  of  lime  and  poisonous 
paints,  and  actually  go  and  steal  receipts  out  of  old 
Madame  Science's  big  book  to  invent  poisons  for  little 
children,  and  sell  them  at  wakes  and  fairs  and  tuck- 
shops.  Very  well.  Let  them  go  on.  Dr.  Lethebv  and 
Dr.  Hassall  cannot  catch  them,  though  they  are  setting 
traps  for  them  all  day  long.  But  the  Fairy  with  the 
birch-rod  will  catch  them  all  in  time,  and  make  them 
begin  at  one  corner  of  their  shops,  and  eat  their  way 
out  at  the  other  :  bv  which  time  thev  will  have  got 
such  stomach-aches  as  will  cure  them  of  poisoning  little 
children. 

Next  he  saw  all  the  little  people  in  the  world,  writing 
all  the  little  books  in  the  world,  about  all  the  other  little 
people  in  the  world  ;  probably  because  they  had  no  great 
people  to  write  about  :  and  if  the  names  of  the  books 
were  not  Squeeky,  nor  the  Pumplighter,  nor  the  Narrow 
Narrow  World,  nor  the  Hills  of  the  Chattermuch,  nor 
the  Children's  Twaddeday,  why  then  they  were  some- 
thing else.     And  all  the  rest  of  the  little  people  in  the 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  241 

world  read  the  books,  and  thought  themselves  each  as 
good  as  the  President  ;  and  perhaps?  they  were  right,  for 
every  one  knows  his  own  business  best.  But  Tom 
thought  he  would  sooner  have  a  jolly  good  fairy  tale, 
about  Jack  the  Giant-killer  or  Beauty  and  the  Beast, 
which  taught  him  something  that  he  didn't  know  al- 
ready. 

And  next  he  came  to  the  centre  of  Creation  (the  hub, 
they  call  it  there),  which  lies  in  latitude  \2'2\°  south 
and  longitude  108  "56°  east. 

And  there  he  found  all  the  wise  people  instructing 
mankind  in  the  science  of  spirit-rapping,  while  their 
house  was  burning  over  their  heads  :  and  when  Tom 
told  them  of  the  fire,  they  held  an  indignation  meeting 
forthwith,  and  unanimously  determined  to  hang  Tom's 
dog  for  coming  into  their  country  with  gunpowder  in 
his  mouth.  Tom  couldn't  help  saying  that  though  they 
did  fancy  they  had  carried  all  the  wit  away  with  them 
out  of  Lincolnshire  two  hundred  years  ago,  yet  if  they 
had  had  one  such  Lincolnshire  nobleman  among  them 
as  good  old  Lord  Yarborough,  he  would  have  called 
for  the  fire-engines  before  he  hanged  other  people's 
doo-s.  But  it  was  of  no  use,  and  the  do°:  was  handed  : 
and  Tom  couldn't  even  have  his  carcase;  for  they  had 
abolished  the  have-his-carcase  act  in  that  country,  for 
fear  lest  when  rogues  fell  out,  honest  men  should  come 
by  their  own.  And  so  they  would  have  succeeded  per- 
fectly, as  they  always  do,  only  that  (as  they  also  always 
do)  they  failed  in  one  little  particular,  viz.,  that  the  dog 
would  not  die,  being  a  water-dog,  but  bit  their  fingers 
so  abominably  that  they  were  forced  to  let  him  go^  and 
Tom  likewise,  as  British  subjects.  Whereon  they 
recommended  rapping  for  the  spirits  of  their  fathers  ; 
and  very  much   astonished    the   poor  old   spirits  were 


242  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

when  they  came,  and  saw  how,  according  to  the  laws  of 
Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid,  their  descendants  had  weak- 
ened their  constitution  by  hard  living. 

Then  came  Tom  to  the  Island  of  Poluragmosyne 
(which  some  call  Rogues'  Harbor  ;  but  they  are  wrong  ; 
for  that  is  in  the  middle  of  Bramshill  Bushes,  and  the 
county  police  have  cleared  it  out  long  ago).  There 
every  one  knows  his  neighbor's  business  better  than  his 
own  ;  and  a  very  noisy  place  it  is,  as  might  be  expected, 
Considering  that  all  the  inhabitants  are  ex  officio  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  house  in  the  "Parliament  of  Man 
and  the  Federation  of  the  World  ;"  and  are  always 
making  wry  mouths,  and  crying  that  the  fairies'  grapes 
were  sour. 

There  Tom  saw  ploughs  drawing  horses,  nails  driving 
hammers,  birds'  nests  taking  boys,  books  making 
authors,  bulls  keeping  china-shops,  monkeys  shaving 
cats,  dead  dogs  drilling  live  lions,  blind  brigadiers 
shelfed  as  principals  of  colleges,  play-actors  not  in  the 
least  shelfed  as  popular  preachers  ;  and,  in  short,  every 
one  set  to  do  something  which  he  had  not  learnt,  because 
in  what  he  had  learnt,  or  pretended  to  learn,  he  had 
failed. 

There  stands  the  Pantheon  of  the  Great  Unsuccessful, 
from  the  builders  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  to  those  of  the 
Trafalgar  Fountains  ;  in  which  politicians  lecture  on  the 
constitutions  which  ought  to  have  marched,  conspirators 
on  the  revolutions  which  ought  to  have  succeeded,  econ- 
omists on  the  schemes  which  ought  to  have  made  ever)7 
one's  fortune,  and  projectors  on  the  discoveries  which 
ought  to  have  set  the  Thames  on  fire.  There  cobblers 
lecture  on  orthopedy  (whatsoever  that  may  be)  because 
they  cannot  sell  their  shoes  ;  and  poets  on  ^Esthetics 
(whatever  that  may  be)  because  they  cannot  sell  their 


A  FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  243 

poetry.  There  philosophers  demonstrate  that  England 
would  be  the  freest  and  richest  country  in  the  world,  if 
she  would  only  turn  Papist  again  ;  penny-a-liners  abuse 
the  Times,  because  they  have  not  wit  enough  to  get  on 
its  staff;  and  young  ladies  walk  about  with  lockets  of 
Charles  the  First's  hair  (or  of  somebody  else's,  when  the 
Jews'  genuine  stock  is  used  up),  inscribed  with  the  neat 
and  appropriate  legend — which,  indeed,  is  popular 
through  all  that  land,  and  which,  I  hope,  you  will  learn 
to  translate  in  due  time  and  to  perpend  likewise  : 

"  Victrix  causa  diis  placuit,  sed  victa  puellis." 

When  he  got  into  the  middle  of  the  town,  they  all 
set  on  him  at  once,  to  show  him  his  way  ;  or  rather,  to 
show  him  that  he  did  not  know  his  way  ;  for  as  for  ask- 
ing him  what  way  he  wanted  to  go,  no  one  ever  thought 
oAhat. 

But  one  pulled  him  hither,  and  another  poked  him 
thither,  and  a  third  cried — 

u  You  mustn't  go  west,  I  tell  you  ;  it  is  destruction  to 
go  west." 

"But  I  am  not  going  west,  as  you  may  see,"  saicl 
Tom. 

And  another,  "  The  east  lies  here,  my  dear  ;  I  assure 
you  this  is  the  east." 

u  But  I  don't  want  to  go  east,"  said  Tom. 

"Well,  then,  at  all  events,  whichever  way  you  are 
going,  you  are  going  wrong,"  cried  they  all  with  ont 
voice — which  was  the  only  thing  which  they  ever  agieed 
about  ;  and  all  pointed  at  once  to  all  the  thirty-and-two 
points  of  the  compass,  till  Tom  thought  all  the  sign-posts 
in  England  had  got  together  and  fallen  fighting. 

And  whether  he  would  have  ever  escaped  out  of  the 


244  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

town,  it  is  hard  to  say,  if  the  dog  had  not  taken  it  into 
his  head  that  they  were  going  to  pull  his  master  to 
pieces,  and  tackled  them  so  sharply  about  the  gastroc- 
nemius muscle,  that  he  gave  them  some  business  of 
their  own  to  think  of  at  last  ;  and  while  they  were 
rubbing  their  bitten  calves,  Tom  and  the  dog  got  safe 
away. 

On  the  borders  of  that  island  he  found  Gotham,  where 
the  wise  men  live  ;  the  same  who  dragged  the  pond  be- 
cause the  moon  had  fallen  into  it,  and  planted  a  hedge 
round  the  cuckoo,  to  keep  spring  all  the  year.  And  he 
found  them  bricking  up  the  town  gate,  because  it  was  so 
wide  that  little  folks  could  not  get  through.  And,  when 
he  asked  why,  they  told  him  they  were  expanding  their 
liturgy.  So  he  went  on  ;  for  it  was  no  business  of  his : 
only  he  could  not  help  saying  that  in  his  country,  if  the 
kitten  could  not  get  in  at  the  same  hole  as  the  cat,  she 
might  stay  outside  and  mew. 

But  he  saw  the  end  of  such  fellows,  when  he  came 
to  the  island  of  the  Golden  Asses,  where  nothing  but 
thistles  grow.  For  there  they  were  all  turned  into  mokes 
with  ears  a  yard  long,  for  meddling  with  matters  which 
they  do  not  understand,  as  Lucius  did  in  the  story.  And 
like  him,  mokes  they  must  remain,  till,  by  the  laws  of 
development,  the  thistles  develop  into  roses.  Till  then, 
they  must  comfort  themselves  with  the  thought  that 
the  longer  their  ears  are  the  thicker  their  hides  ;  and  so 
a  good  beating  don't  hurt  them. 

Then  came  Tom  to  the  great  land  of  Hearsay,  in  which 
are  no  less  than  thirty  and  odd  kings,  beside  half  a  dozen 
Republics,  and  perhaps  more  by  next  mail. 

And  there  he  fell  in  with  a  deep,  dark,  deadly,  and 
destructive  war,  waged  by  the  princes  and  potentates  of 
those  parts,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  against  what 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  245 

do  you  think?  One  thing  I  am  sure  of.  That  unless 
I  told  you,  you  would  never  know  ;  nor  how  they  waged 
that  war  either  ;  for  all  their  strategy  and  art  military 
consisted  in  the  safe  and  easy  process  of  stopping  their 
ears  and  screaming,  "  Oh,  don't  tell  us!"  and  then 
running  away. 

So,  when  Tom  came  into  that  land,  he  found  them 
all,  high  and  low,  man,  woman,  and  child,  running  for 
their  lives  day  and  night  continually,  and  entreating  not 
to  be  told  they  didn't  know  what  :  only  the  land  being 
an  island  and  they  having  a  dislike  to  the  water  (being 
a  musty  lot  for  the  most  part),  they  ran  round  the  shore 
for  ever,  which  (as  the  island  was  exactly  of  the  same 
circumference  as  the  planet  on  which  we  have  the  honor 
of  living)  was  hard  work,  especially  to  those  who  had 
business  to  look  after.  But  before  them,  as  bandmaster 
and  fugleman,  ran  a  gentleman  shearing  a  pig  ;  the 
melodious  strains  of  which  animal  led  them  for  ever,  if 
not  to  conquest,  still  to  flight  ;  and  kept  up  their  spirits 
mightily  with  the  thought  that  they  would  at  least  have 
the  pig's  wool  for  their  pains. 

And  running  after  them,  day  and  night,  came  such  a 
poor,  lean,  seedy,  hard-worked  old  giant,  as  ought  to 
have  been  cockered  up,  and  had  a  good  dinner  given 
him,  and  a  good  wife  found  him,  and  been  set  to  play 
with  the  little  children  ;  and  then  he  would  have  been  a 
very  presentable  old  fellow,  after  all  ;  for  he  had  a 
heart,  though  it  was  considerably  overgrown  with 
brains. 

He  was  made  up  principally  of  fish-bones  and  parch- 
ment, put  together  with  wire  and  Canada  balsam  ;  and 
smelt  strongly  of  spirits,  though  he  never  drank  any- 
thing but  water  :  but  spirits  he  used  somehow,  there  is 
no  denying.     He  had  a  great  pair  of  spectacles  on  his 


246  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

nose,  and  a  butterfly-net  in  one  hand,  and  a  geological 
hammer  in  the  other  ;  and  was  hung  all  over  with 
pockets,  full  of  collecting  boxes,  bottles,  microscopes, 
telescopes,  barometers,  ordnance  maps,  scalpels,  forceps, 
photographic  apparatus,  and  all  other  tackle  for  finding 
out  everything  about  everything,  and  a  little  more,  too. 
And,  most  strange  of  all,  he  was  running  not  forwards 
but  backwards,  as  fast  as  he  could. 

Away  all  the  good  folks  ran  from  him,  except  Tom, 
who  stood  his  ground  and  dodged  between  his  legs  ;  and 
the  giant,  when  he  had  passed  him,  looked  down,  and 
cried,  as  if  he  was  quite  pleased  and  comforted — 

"What?  Who  are  you?  And  you  actually  don't 
run  away,  like  all  the  rest?"  But  he  had  to  take 
his  spectacles  off,  Tom  remarked,  in  order  to  see  him 
plainly. 

Tom  told  him  who  he  was  ;  and  the  giant  pulled  out 
a  bottle  and  a  cork  instantly,  to  collect  him  with. 

But  Tom  was  too  sharp  for  that,  and  dodged  between 
his  legs  and  in  front  of  him  ;  and  then  the  giant  could 
not  see  him  at  all. 

u  No,  no,  no!"  said  Tom  ;  "I've  not  been  round  the 
world,  and  through  the  world,  and  up  to  Mother  Carey's 
haven,  beside  being  caught  in  a  net  and  called  a  Holo- 
thurian  and  a  Cephalopod,  to  be  bottled  up  by  any  old 
giant  like  vou. " 

And  when  the  giant  understood  what  a  great  traveller 
Tom  had  been,  he  made  a  truce  with  him  at  once,  and 
would  have  kept  him  there  to  this  day  to  pick  his  brains, 
so  delighted  was  he  at  finding  any  one  to  tell  him  what 
he  did  not  know  before. 

"Ah,  you  lucky  little  dog!"  said  he  at  last,  quite 
simply — for  he  was  the  simplest,  pleasantest,  honestest, 
kindliest   old   Dominie   Sampson  of  a  giant  that  ever 


A   FAIRY   TALK   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  247 

turned  the  world  upside  down  without  intending  it — 
"  ah,  you  lucky  little  dog  !  If  I  had  only  been  where 
you  have  been,  to  see  what  you  have  seen  ! " 

"Well,"  said  Tom,  "if  you  want  to  do  that,  you  had 
best  put  your  head  under  water  for  a  few  hours,  as  I  did, 
and  turn  into  a  water-baby,  or  some  other  baby,  and 
then  you  might  have  a  chance." 

"Turn  into  a  baby,  eh?  If  I  could  do  that,  and 
know  what  was  happening  to  me  for  but  one  hour,  I 
should  know  everything  then,  and  be  at  rest.  But  I 
can't ;  I  can't  be  a  little  child  again  ;  and  I  suppose  if  I 
could,  it  would  be  no  use,  because  then  I  should  know 
nothing  about  what  was  happening  to  me.  Ah,  you 
lucky  little  dog  ! "  said  the  poor  old  giant. 

"But  why  do  you  run  after  all  these  poor  people?" 
said  Tom,  who  liked  the  giant  very  much. 

"  My  dear,  it's  they  that  have  been  running  after  me, 
father  and  son,  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  years, 
throwing  stones  at  me  till  they  have  knocked  off  my 
spectacles  fifty  times,  and  calling  me  a  malignant  and 
a  turbaned  Turk,  who  beat  a  Venetian  and  traduced  the 
State — goodness  only  knows  what  they  mean,  for  I  never 
read  poetry — and  hunting  me  round  and  round — though 
catch  me  they  can't,  for  every  time  I  go  over  the  same 
ground  I  go  the  faster,  and  grow  the  bigger.  While  all 
I  want  is  to  be  friends  with  them,  and  to  tell  them 
something  to  their  advantage,  like  Mr.  Joseph  Ady  : 
only  somehow  they  are  so  strangely  afraid  of  hearing  it. 
But,  I  suppose,  I  am  not  a  man  of  the  world,  and  have 
no  tact." 

"  But  why  don't  you  turn  round  and  tell  them  so?  " 

"  Because  I  can't.  You  see,  I  am  one  of  the  sons  of 
Bpimetheus,  and  must  go  backwards,  if  I  am  to  go  at 
all." 


248  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

"But  why  dou't  you  stop,  and  let  them  come  up  to 
you?  " 

"Why,  my  dear,  only  think.  If  I  did,  all  the  butter- 
flies and  cockyolybirds  would  fly  past  me,  and  then  I 
should  catch  no  more  new  species,  and  should  grow 
rusty  and  mouldy,  and  die.  And  I  don't  intend  to  do 
that,  my  dear  ;  for  I  have  a  destiny  before  me,  they  say: 
though  what  it  is  I  don't  know,  and  don't  care." 

"Don't  care?"  said  Tom. 

u  No.  Do  the  duty  which  lies  nearest  you,  and  catch 
the  first  beetle  you  come  across,  is  my  motto  ;  and  I 
have  thriven  by  it  for  some  hundred  years.  Now  I  must 
go  on.  Dear  me,  while  I  have  been  talking  to  you,  at 
least  nine  new  species  have  escaped  me." 

And  on  went  the  giant,  behind  before,  like  a  bull  in 
a  china-shop,  till  he  ran  into  the  steeple  of  the  great  idol 
temple  (for  they  are  all  idolaters  in  those  parts,  of  course, 
else  they  would  never  be  afraid  of  giants),  and  knocked 
the  upper  half  clean  off,  hurting  himself  horribly  about 
the  small  of  the  back. 

But  little  he  cared  ;  for  as  soon  as  the  ruins  of  the 
steeple  were  well  between  his  legs,  he  poked  and  peered 
among  the  falling  stones,  and  shifted  his  spectacles,  and 
pulled  out  his  pocket-magnifier,  and  cried — 

"An  entirely  new  Oniscus,  and  three  obscure  Podu- 
rellse  !  Besides  a  moth  which  M.  le  Roi  des  Papillons 
(though  he,  like  all  Frenchmen,  is  given  to  hasty  induc- 
tions) says  is  confined  to  the  limits  of  the  Glacial  Drift. 
This  is  most  important  !  " 

And  down  he  sat  on  the  nave  of  the  temple  (not  being 
a  man  of  the  world)  to  examine  his  Podurellse.  Whereon 
(as  was  to  be  expected)  the  roof  caved  in  bodily,  smash- 
ing the  idols,  and  sending  the  priests  flying  out  of  doors 
and  windows,  like  rabbits  out  of  a  burrow  when  a  ferret 
goes  in. 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  249 

But  he  never  heeded  ;  for  out  of  the  dust  flew  a  bat, 
and  the  giant  had  him  in  a  moment. 

"  Dear  me  !  This  is  even  more  important  !  Here  is 
a  cognate  species  to  that  which  Macgilliwaukie  Brown 
insists  is  confined  to  the  Buddhist  temples  of  Little 
Thibet ;  and  now  when  I  look  at  it,  it  may  be  only  a 
variety  produced  by  difference  of  climate  !  " 

And  having  bagged  his  bat,  up  he  got,  and  on  he 
"went  ;  while  all  the  people  ran,  being  in  none  the 
better  humor  for  having  their  temple  smashed  for  the 
sake  of  three  obscure  species  of  Podurellse,  and  a  bud- 
dhist  bat. 

44  Well,"  thought  Tom,  "  this  is  a  very  pretty  quarrel, 
frith  a  good  deal  to  be  said  on  both  sides.  But  it  is  no 
business  of  mine." 

And  no  more  it  was,  because  he  was  a  water-baby, 
and  had  the  original  sow  by  the  right  ear  ;  which  you 
will  never  have,  unless  you  be  a  baby,  whether  of  the 
water,  the  land,  or  the  air,  matters  not,  provided  you 
can  only  keep  on  continually  being  a  baby. 

So  the  giant  ran  round  after  the  people,  and  the  people 
ran  round  after  the  giant,  and  they  are  running  unto 
this  day  for  aught  I  know,  or  do  not  know  ;  and  will 
run  till  either  he,  or  they,  or  both,  turn  into  little 
children.  And  then,  as  Shakespeare  says  (and  therefore 
"t  must  be  true) — 

"Jack  shall  have  Gill 

Nought  shall  go  ill 

The  man  shall  have  his  mare  again,  and  all  go  well.'" 

Then  Tom  came  to  a  very  famous  island,  which  was 
called,  in  the  days  of  the  great  traveller  Captain  Gulliver, 
the   Isle  of  Laputa,     But  Mrs.   Bedonebyasyoudid  has 

X7 — Water  Babies 


250  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

named  it  over  again,  the  Isle  of  Tomtoddies,  all  heads 
and  no  bodies. 

And  when  Tom  came  near  it  he  heard  such  a  grum- 
bling and  grunting  and  growling  and  wailing  and  weep- 
ing and  whining  that  he  thought  people  must  be  ringing 
little  pigs,  or  cropping  puppies'  ears,  or  drowning  kittens: 
but  when  he  came  nearer  still,  he  began  to  hear  words 
among  the  noise ;  which  was  the  Tomtoddies'  song  which 
they  sing  morning  and  evening,  and  all  night,  too,  to 
their  great  idol  Examination — 

"I  can't  learn  my  lesson  :  the  examiner's  coming !  " 

And  that  was  the  only  song  which  they  knew. 

And  when  Tom  got  on  shore  the  first  thing  he  saw 
was  a  great  pillar,  on  one  side  of  which  was  inscribed, 
"Playthings  not  allowed  here;"  at  which  he  was  so 
shocked  that  he  would  not  stay  to  see  what  was  written 
on  the  other  side.  Then  he  looked  round  for  the  people 
of  the  island  :  but  instead  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
he  found  nothing  but  turnips  and  radishes,  beet  and 
mangold  wurzel,  without  a  single  green  leaf  among  them, 
and  half  of  them  burst  and  decayed,  with  toadstools 
growing  out  of  them.  Those  which  were  left  began 
crying  to  Tom,  in  half  a  dozen  different  languages  at 
once,  and  all  of  them  badly  spoken,  "I  can't  learn  my 
lesson  ;  do  come  and  help  me  !  "  And  one  cried,  "  Can 
you  show  me  how  to  extract  this  square  root?  " 

And  another,  "  Can  you  tell  me  the  distance  between 
a  Lyrse  and  p  Camelopardis  ?  " 

And  another,  "  What  is  the  latitude  and  longitude  of 
Snooksville,  in  Noman's  County,  Oregon,  U.  S.  ?  " 

And  another,  "  What  was  the  name  of  Mutius  Scae- 
vola's  thirteenth  cousin's  grandmother's  maid's  cat?" 


A   FAIRY   TALK  FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  25 1 

And  another,  "How  long  would  it  take  a  school  in- 
spector of  average  activity  to  tumble  head  over  heels 
from  London  to  York  ?  " 

And  another,  "Can  you  tell  me  the  name  of  a  place 
that  nobody  ever  heard  of,  where  nothing  ever  happened, 
in  a  country  which  has  not  been  discovered  yet?  " 

And  another,  u  Can  you  show  me  how  to  correct  this 
hopelessly  corrupt  passage  of  Graidiocolosyrtus  Taben- 
niticus,  or  the  cause  why  crocodiles  have  no  tongues?  " 

And  so  on,  and  so  on,  and  so  on,  till  one  would  have 
thought  they  were  all  trying  for  tide-waiters'  places,  or 
cornetcies  in  the  heavy  dragoons. 

"And  what  good  on  earth  will  it  do  you  if  I  did  tell 
you?"  quoth  Tom. 

Well,  they  didn't  know  that:  all  they  knew  was  the 
examiner  was  coming. 

Then  Tom  stumbled  on  the  hugest  and  softest  nimble- 
comequick  turnip  you  ever  saw  filling  a  hole  in  a  crop  of 
swedes,  and  it  cried  to  him,  "  Can  you  tell  me  anything 
at  all  about  anything  you  like?  " 

''About  what?  "  says  Tom. 

"About  anything  you  like  ;  for  as  fast  as  I  learn  things 
I  forget  them  again.  So  my  mamma  says  that  my  intel- 
lect is  not  adapted  for  methodic  science,  and  says  that  I 
must  go  for  general  information." 

Tom  told  him  that  he  did  not  know  general  infor- 
mation, nor  any  officers  in  the  army  :  only  he  had  a 
friend  once  that  went  for  a  drummer  :  but  he  could  tell 
him  a  great  many  strange  things  which  he  had  seen  in 
his  travels. 

So  he  told  him  prettily  enough,  while  the  poor  turnip 
listened  very  carefully  ;  and  the  more  he  listened,  the 
more  he  forgot,  and  the  more  water  ran  out  of  him. 

Tom  thought  he  was  crying  :  but  it  was  only  his  poor 


252  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

brains  running  away  from  being  worked  so  hard  ;  and  as 
Tom  talked,  the  unhappy  turnip  streamed  down  all  over 
with  juice,  and  split  and  shrank  till  nothing  was  left  of 
him  but  rind  and  wrater  ;  whereat  Tom  ran  away  in  a 
fright,  for  he  thought  he  might  be  taken  up  for  killing 
the  turnip. 

But,  on  the  contrary,  the  turnip's  parents  were  highly 
delighted,  and  considered  him  a  saint  and  a  martyr,  and 
put  up  a  long  inscription  over  his  tomb  about  his  won- 
derful talents,  early  development,  and  unparalleled  pre- 
cocity. Were  they  not  a  foolish  couple  ?  But  there  was 
a  still  more  foolish  couple  next  to  them,  who  were 
beating  a  wretched  little  radish,  no  bigger  than  my 
thumb,  for  sullenness  aud  obstinacy  and  wilful  stupidity, 
and  never  knew  that  the  reason  why  it  couldn't  learn 
or  hardly  even  speak  was,  that  there  was  a  great  worm 
inside  it  eating  all  its  brains.  But  even  they  are  no 
foolisher  than  some  hundred  score  of  papas  and  mammas, 
who  fetch  the  rod  when  they  ought  to  fetch  a  new  toy, 
and  send  to  the  dark  cupboard  instead  of  to  the  doctor. 

Tom  was  so  puzzled  and  frightened  with  all  he  saw, 
that  he  was  longing  to  ask  the  meaning  of  it  ;  and  at 
last  he  stumbled  over  a  respectable  old  stick  lying  half- 
covered  with  earth.  But  a  very  stout  and  worthy  stick  it 
was,  for  it  belonged  to  good  Roger  Ascham  in  old  time, 
and  he  carved  on  its  head  King  Edward  the  Sixth,  with 
the  Bible  in  his  hand. 

"  You  see,"  said  the  stick,  "there  were  as  pretty  little 
children  once  as  you  could  wish  to  see,  and  might  have 
been  so  still  if  they  had  been  only  left  to  grow  up  like 
human  beings,  and  then  handed  over  to  me  ;  but  their 
foolish  fathers  and  mothers,  instead  of  letting  them  pick 
flowers,  and  make  dirt-pies,  and  get  birds'  nests,  and 
dance    round    the    gooseberry    bush,    as    little    children 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR    A   LAND-BABY. 


253 


should,  kept  thein  always  at  lessons,  working,  working, 
working,  learning  week-day  lessons  all  week-days,  and 
Sunday  lessons  all  Sunday,  and  weekly  examinations 
every  Saturday,  and  monthly  examinations  every  month, 
and  yearly  examinations  ever  year,  everything  seven 
times  over,  as  if  once  was  not  enough,  and  enough  as 
good  as  a  feast — till  their  brains  grew  big,  and  their 
bodies  grew  small,  and  they  were  all  changed  into  tur- 
nips, with  little  but  water 
inside  ;  and  still  their 
foolish  parents  actually 
pick  the  leaves  off  them 
as  fast  as  they  grow,  lest 
they  should  have  any- 
thing green  about  them." 

"Ah!"  said  Tom,  "if 
dear  Mrs.  Doasyouwould- 
bedoneby  knew  of  it  she 
would  send  them  a  lot 
of  tops,  and  balls,  and 
marbles,  and  ninepins, 
and  make  them  all  as  jolly 
as  sand-boys. ' ' 

"  It  would  be  no  use," 
said  the  stick.  ' '  They 
can't  play  now,  if  they  tried.  Don't  you  see  how  their 
legs  have  turned  to  roots  and  grown  into  the  ground,  by 
never  taking  any  exercise,  but  sapping  and  moping  al- 
ways in  the  same  place  ?  But  here  comes  the  Bxaminer- 
of-all-Examiners.  So  you  had  better  get  away,  I  warn 
you,  or  he  will  examine  you  and  your  dog  into  the  bar- 
gain, and  set  him  to  examine  all  the  other  dogs,  and 
you  to  examine  all  the  other  water-babies.  There 
is  no  escaping  out  of  his  hands,  for  his  nose  is  nine 


254  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

thousand  miles  long,  and  can  go  down  chimneys,  and 
through  keyholes,  upstairs,  downstairs,  in  my  lady's 
chamber,  examining  all  little  boys,  and  the  little  boys' 
tutors  likewise.  But  when  he  is  thrashed — so  Mrs.  Be- 
donebyasyoudid  has  promised  me — I  shall  have  the 
thrashing  of  him  :  and  if  I  don't  lay  it  on  with  a  will 
it's  a  pity." 

Tom  went  off :  but  rather  slowly  and  surlily  ;  for  he 
was  somewhat  minded  to  face  this  same  Examiner-of-all- 
Examiners,  who  came  striding  among  the  poor  turnips, 
binding  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and 
laying  them  on  little  children's  shoulders,  like  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  old,  and  not  touching  the  same 
with  one  of  his  fingers  ;  for  he  had  plenty  of  money,  and 
a  fine  house  to  live  in,  and  so  forth  ;  which  was  more 
than  the  poor  little  turnips  had. 

But,  when  he  got  near,  he  looked  so  big  and  burly 
and  dictatorial,  and  shouted  so  loud  to  Tom  to  come 
and  be  examined,  that  Tom  ran  for  his  life,  and  the  dog, 
too.  And  really  it  was  time :  for  the  poor  turnips,  in 
their  hurrvand  fright,  crammed  themselves  so  fast  to  be 
ready  for  the  Examiner,  that  they  burst  and  popped  by 
dozens  all  round  him,  till  the  place  sounded  like  Alder- 
shot  on  a  field-dav,  and  Tom  thought  he  should  be  blown 
into  the  air,  dog  and  all. 

As  he  went  down  to  the  shore  he  passed  the  poor 
turnip's  new  tomb.  But  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  had 
taken  away  the  epitaph  about  talents  and  precocity  and 
development,  and  put  up  one  of  her  own  instead,  which 
Tom  thought  much  more  sensible  : 

"Instruction  sore  long  time  I  bore. 
And  cramming  was  in  vain  ; 
Till  heaven  did  please  my  woes  to  ease, 
With  water  on  the  brain." 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  255 

So  Tom  jumped  into  the  sea,  and  swam  on  his  way, 
singing : 

"Farewell,  Tomtoddies  all ;  I  thank  my  stars 
That  nought  I  know  save  those  three  royal  rJs  : 
Reading  and  riting  sure,  with  rithmetick, 
Will  help  a  lad  of  sense  through  thin  and  thick" 

Whereby  you  may  see  that  Tom  was  no  poet :  but  no 
more  was  John  Bunyan,  though  he  was  as  wise  a  man 
as  you  will  meet  in  a  month  of  Sundays. 

And  next  he  came  to  Oldwivesfabledom,  where  the 
folks  were  all  heathens,  and  worshipped  a  howling  ape. 

And  there  he  found  a  little  boy  sitting  in  the  middle 
of  the  road,  and  crying  bitterly. 

"What  are  you  crying  for?  "  said  Tom. 

"  Because  I  am  not  as  frightened  as  I  could  wish 
to  be." 

"  Not  frightened?  You  are  a  queer  little  chap  :  but, 
if  you  want  to  be  frightened,  here  goes — Boo  !  " 

uAh,"  said  the  little  boy,  "that  is  very  kind  of 
you  ;  but  I  don't  feel  that  it  has  made  any  impres- 
sion." 

Tom  offered  to  upset  him,  punch  him,  stamp  on  him, 
fettle  him  over  the  head  with  a  brick,  or  anything 
else  whatsoever  which  would  give  him  the  slightest 
comfort. 

But  he  only  thanked  Tom  very  civilly,  in  fine  long 
words  which  he  had  heard  other  folk  use,  and  which, 
therefore,  he  thought  were  fit  and  proper  to  use  himself; 
and  cried  on  till  his  papa  and  mamma  came,  and  sent 
off  for  the  Powwow  man  immediately.  And  a  very 
good-natured  gentleman  and  lady  they  were,  though 
they  were  heathens  ;  and  talked  quite  pleasantly  to  Tom 


2.56  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

about  his  travels,  till  the  Powwow  man  arrived,  with  his 
thunderbox  under  his  arm. 

And  a  well-fed,  ill-favored  gentleman  he  was,  as  ever 
served  Her  Majesty  at  Portland.  Tom  was  a  little 
frightened  at  first  ;  for  he  thought  it  was  Grimes.  But 
he  soon  saw  his  mistake  :  for  Grimes  always  looked  a 
man  in  the  face  ;  and  this  fellow  never  did.  And  when 
he  spoke,  it  was  fire  and  smoke  ;  and  when  he  sneezed, 
it  was  squibs  and  crackers  ;  and  when  he  cried  (which 
he  did  whenever  it  paid  him),  it  was  boiling  pitch  ;  and 
some  of  it  was  sure  to  stick. 

u  Here  we  are  again  ! "  cried  he,  like  the  clown  in  a 
pantomime.  uSo  you  can't  feel  frightened,  my  little 
dear — eh?  I'll  do  that  for  you.  I'll  make  an  im- 
pression on  you  !  Yah  !  Boo  !  Whirroo  !  Hulla- 
baloo !  " 

And  he  rattled,  thumped,  brandisned  his  thunderbox, 
yelled,  shouted,  raved,  roared,  stamped,  and  danced  cor- 
robory  like  any  black  fellow  ;  and  then  he  touched  a 
spring  in  the  thunderbox,  and  out  popped  turnip-ghost? 
and  magic-lanthorns  and  pasteboard  bogies  and  spring- 
heeled  Jacks  and  sallaballas,  with  such  a  horrid  din, 
clatter,  clank,  roll,  rattle,  and  roar,  that  the  little  boy 
turned  up  the  whites  of  his  eyes,  and  fainted  right 
away. 

And  at  that  his  poor  heathen  papa  and  mamma  were 
as  much  delighted  as  if  they  had  found  a  gold  mine  ,, 
and  fell  down  upon  their  knees  before  the  Powwow 
man,  and  gave  him  a  palanquin  wTith  a  pole  of  solid 
silver  and  curtains  of  cloth  of  gold  ;  and  carried  him 
about  in  it  on  their  backs  :  but  as  soon  as  thev  had  taken 
him  up,  the  pole  stuck  to  their  shoulders,  and  they  could 
not  set  him  down  any  more,  but  carried  him  on  willy- 
nilly,  as  Sinbad  carried  the  old  man  of  the  sea  :  which 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  257 

was  a  pitiable  sight  to  see  ;  for  the  father  was  a  very 
brave  officer,  and  wore  two  swords  and  a  blue  button  ; 
and  the  mother  was  as  pretty  a  lady  as  ever  had  pinched 
feet  like  a  Chinese.  But,  you  see,  they  had  chosen  to 
do  a  foolish  thing  just  once  too  often  ;  so,  by  the  laws  of 
Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid,  they  had  to  go  on  doing  it 
whether  they  chose  or  not,  till  the  coming  of  the 
Cocqcigrues. 

Ah  !  don't  you  wish  that  some  one  would  go  and 
convert  those  poor  heathens,  and  teach  them  not  to 
frighten  their  little  children  into  fits? 

"Now,  then,"  said  the  Powwow  man  to  Tom, 
(i  wouldn't  you  like  to  be  frightened,  my  little  dear? 
For  I  can  see  plainly  that  you  are  a  very  wicked, 
naughty,  graceless,  reprobate  boy." 

"You're  another,"  quoth  Tom,  very  sturdily.  And 
when  the  man  ran  at  him,  and  cried  "  Boo  !  "  Tom  ran 
at  him  in  return,  and  cried  "Boo  !"  likewise,  right  in 
his  face,  and  set  the  little  dog  upon  him  ;  and  at  his  legs 
the  dog  went. 

At  which,  if  you  will  believe  it,  the  fellow  turned  tail, 
thunderbox  and  all,  with  a  "Woof!"  like  an  old  sow 
on  the  common  ;  and  ran  for  his  life,  screaming,  "Help! 
thieves  !  murder  !  fire  !  He  is  going  to  kill  me  !  I  am 
a  ruined  man  !  He  will  murder  me  ;  and  break,  burn, 
and  destroy  my  precious  and  invaluable  thunderbox  ; 
and  then  you  will  have  no  more  thunder-showers  in  the 
land.     Help!  help!  help!" 

At  which  the  papa  and  mamma  and  all  the  people  of 
Oldwivesfabledom  flew  at  Tom,  shouting,  "Oh,  the 
wicked,  impudent,  hard-hearted,  graceless  boy  !  Beat 
him,  kick  him,  shoot  him,  drown  him,  hang  him,  burn 
him  !"  and  so  forth  :  but  luckily  they  had  nothing  to 
shoot,  hang,  or  burn  him  with,  for  the  fairies  had  M-* 


258  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

all  the  killing-tackle  out  of  the  way  a  little  while  before  ; 
so  they  could  only  pelt  him  with  stones  ;  and  some  of 
the  stones  went  clean  through  him,  and  came  out  the 
other  side.  But  he  did  not  mind  that  a.  bit  ;  for  the 
holes  closed  up  again  as  fast  as  they  were  made,  because 
he  was  a  water-baby.  However,  he  was  very  glad  when 
he  was  safe  out  of  the  country,  for  the  noise  there  made 
him  all  but  deaf. 

Then  he  came  to  a  very  quiet  place,  called  Leave- 
heavenalone.  And  there  the  sun  was  drawing  water  out 
of  the  sea  to  make  steam-threads,  and  the  wind  was 
twisting  them  up  to  make  cloud-patterns,  till  they  had 
worked  between  them  the  loveliest  wedding- veil  of  Chan- 
tilly  lace,  and  hung  it  up  in  their  own  Crystal  Palace  for 
any  one  to  buy  who  could  afford  it  ;  while  the  good  old 
sea  never  grudged,  for  she  knew  they  would  pay  her 
back  honestly.  So  the  sun  span,  and  the  wind  wove, 
and  all  went  well  with  the  great  steam-loom  ;  as  is  likely, 
considering — and  considering — and  considering — 

And  at  last,  after  innumerable  adventures,  each  more 
wonderful  than  the  last,  he  saw  before  him  a  huge 
building,  much  bigger,  and — what  is  most  surprising — 
a  little  uglier  than  a  certain  new  lunatic  asylum,  but  not 
built  quite  of  the  same  materials.  None  of  it,  at  least — 
or,  indeed,  for  aught  that  I  ever  saw,  any  part  of  any 
other  building  whatsoever — is  cased  with  nine-inch 
brick  inside  and  out,  and  filled  up  with  rubble  between 
the  walls,  in  order  that  any  gentleman  who  has  been 
confined  during  Her  Majesty's  pleasure  may  be  uncon- 
fined  during  his  own  pleasure,  and  take  a  walk  in  the 
neighboring  park  to  improve  his  spirits,  after  an  hour's 
light  and  wholesome  labor  with  his  dinner-fork  or  one 
of  the  legs  of  his  iron  bedstead.  No.  The  walls  of 
this  building  were   built  on  an  entirely  different  prin* 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY. 


259 


ciple,  which  need  not  be  described,  as  it  has  not  yet  been 
discovered. 

Tom  walked  towards  this  great  building,  wondering 
what  it  was,  and  having  a  strange  fancy  that  he  might 
find  Mr.  Grimes  inside  it,  till  he  saw  running  toward 
him,  and  shouting  "  Stop  !  "  three  or  four  people,  who, 
when  they  came  nearer,  were  nothing  else  than  police- 
men's truncheons,  running  along  without  legs  or  arms. 

Tom  was  not  astonished.  He  was 
long  past  that.  Besides,  he  had  seen  the 
navicular  in  the  water  move,  nobody 
knows  how,  a  hundred  times,  without 
arms,  or  legs,  or  anything  to  stand  in 
their  stead.  Neither  was  he  frightened  ; 
for  he  had  been  doing  no  harm. 

So  he  stopped  ;  and,  when  the  foremost 
truncheon  came  up  and  asked  his  busi- 
ness, he  showed  Mother  Carey's  pass  ; 
and  the  truncheon  looked  at  it  in  the 
oddest  fashion  ;  for  he  had  one  eye  in  the 
middle  of  his  upper  end,  so  that  when  he 
looked  at  anything,  being  quite  stiff,  he 
had  to  slope  himself,  and  poke  himself, 
till  it  was  a  wonder  why  he  did  not 
tumble  over  ;  but,  being  quite  full  of  the 
spirit  of  justice  (as  all  policemen,  and 
their  truncheons,  ought  to  be),  he  was  always  in  a 
position  of  stable  equilibrium,  whichever  way  he  put 
himself. 

"All  right — pass  on,"  said  he  at  last.     And  then  he 

added  :  UI  had  better  go  with  you,  young  man."     And 

Tom  had  no  objection,  for  such  company  was  bGth  r** 

spectable  and  safe  ;  so  the  truncheon   coiled  its  thong 

neatly  round  its  handle,  to  prevent  tripping  itself  up— 


26o  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

for  the  thong  had  got  loose  in  running — and  marched  on 
bv  Tom's  side. 

J 

u  Why  have  you  no  policeman  to  carry  you?"  a^ked 
Tom,  after  a  while. 

"Because  we  are  not  like  those  clumsy-made  trun- 
cheons in  the  land-world,  which  cannot  go  without  having 
a  whole  man  to  carry  them  about.  We  do  our  own  work 
for  ourselves  ;  and  do  it  very  well,  though  I  say  it  who 
should  not. 

"Then  why  have  you  a  thong  to  your  handle?" 
asked  Tom. 

"To  hang  ourselves  up  bv,  of  course,  when  we  are 
off  duty." 

Tom  had  got  his  answer,  and  had  no  more  to  say, 
till  they  came  up  to  the  great  iron  door  of  the  prison. 
And  there  the  truncheon  knocked  twice  with  its  own 
head. 

A  wicket  in  the  door  opened,  and  out  looked  a  tre- 
mendous old  brass  blunderbuss  charged  up  to  the  muzzle 
with  slugs,  who  was  the  porter  ;  and  Tom  started  back 
a  little  at  the  sight. 

"  What  case  is  this?"  he  asked  in  a  deep  voice,  out 
of  his  broad  bell  mouth. 

"  If  you  please,  sir,  it  is  no  case  ;  only  a  young  gentle- 
man from  her  ladyship,  who  wants  to  see  Grimes,  the 
master-sweep." 

"Grimes?"  said  the  blunderbuss.  And  he  pulled  in 
his  muzzle,  perhaps  to  look  over  his  prison-lists. 

"Grimes  is  up  chimney  No.  345,"  he  said  from  in- 
side. "  So  the  young  gentleman  had  better  go  on  to 
the  roof." 

Tom  looked  up  at  the  enormous  wall,  which  seemed 
at  least  ninety  miles  high,  and  wondered  how  he  should 
ever  get  up  :   but,   when  he  hinted    that  to    the  trun- 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR  A  LaND-BABY. 


26l 


cheon,  it  settled  the  matter  in  a  moment.  For  it 
whisked  round,  and  gave  him  such  a  shove  behind  as 
sent  him  up  to  the  roof  in  no  time,  with  his  little  dog 
under  his  arm. 


v  !  • 


And  there   he  walked   along  the  leads,   till   he   met 
another  truncheon,  and  told  him  his  errand. 
"  Very  good,"  it  said. 


,(  Come  along  :  but  it  will  be 


262  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

of  no  use.  He  is  the  most  unremorseful,  hard-hearted, 
foul-mouthed  fellow  I  have  in  charge  :  and  thinks  about 
nothing  but  beer  and  pipes,  which  are  not  allowed  here, 
of  course." 

So  they  walked  along  over  the  leads,  and  very  sooty 
they  were,  and  Tom  thought  the  chimneys  must  wrant 
sweeping  very  much.  But  he  was  surprised  to  see  that 
the  soot  did  not  stick  to  his  feet,  or  dirty  them  in  the 
least.  Neither  did  the  live  coals,  which  were  lying 
about  in  plenty,  burn  him  ;  for,  being  a  water-baby,  his 
radical  humors  were  of  a  moist  and  cold  nature,  as  you 
may  read  at  large  in  Lemnius,  Cardan,  Van  Helmont, 
and  other  gentlemen,  who  knew  as  much  as  they  could, 
and  no  man  can  know  more. 

And  at  last  they  came  to  chimney  No.  345.  Out  of 
the  top  of  it,  his  head  and  shoulders  just  showing,  stuck 
poor  Mr.  Grimes,  so  sooty,  and  bleared,  and  ugly,  that 
Tom  could  hardlv  bear  to  look  at  him.  And  in  his 
mouth  was  a  pipe  ;  but  it  was  not  a-light ;  though  he 
was  pulling  at  it  with  all  his  might. 

"Attention,  Mr.  Grimes,"  said  the  truncheon;  "here 
is  a  gentleman  come  to  see  you." 

But  Mr.  Grimes  only  said  bad  words  ;  and  kept 
grumbling,  u  My  pipe  won't  draw.  My  pipe  won't 
draw. ' ' 

"Keep  a  civil  tongue,  and  attend!"  said  the  trun- 
cheon ;  and  popped  up  just  like  Punch,  hitting  Grimes 
such  a  crack  over  the  head  with  itself,  that  his  brains 
rattled  inside  like  a  dried  walnut  in  its  shell.  He  tried 
to  get  his  hands  out,  and  rub  the  place  :  but  he  could 
not,  for  they  were  stuck  fast  in  the  chimney.  Now  he 
was  forced  to  attend. 

"  Hey  !"  he  said  ;  "why,  it's  Tom  !  I  suppose  you 
have  come  here  to  laugh  at  me,  you  spiteful  little 
atomy  ! '  * 


(263) 


264  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

Tom  assured  him  he  had  not,  but  only  wanted  Co  help 
him. 

"I  don't  want  anything  except  beer,  and  that  I  can't 
get  ;  and  a  light  to  this  bothering  pipe,  and  that  I  can't 
get  either." 

"  I'll  get  you  one,"  said  Tom  ;  and  he  took  up  a  live 
coal  (there  were  plenty  lying  about)  and  put  it  to  Grimes' 
pipe  :   but  it  went  out  instantly. 

"It's  no  use,"  said  the  truncheon,  leaniug  itself  up 
against  the  chimney  and  looking  on.  "  I  tell  you,  it  is 
no  use.  His  heart  is  so  cold  that  it  freezes  everything 
that  comes  near  him.     You  will  see  that  presently,  plain 


enough. 


"Oh,  of  course,  it's  my  fault.  Everything's  always 
my  fault,"  said  Grimes.  "Now  don't  go  to  hit  me 
again  "  (for  the  truncheon  started  upright  and  looked 
very  wicked)  ;  "you  know,  if  my  arms  were  only  free, 
you  daren't  hit  me  then." 

The  truncheon  leant  back  against  the  chimney,  and 
took  no  notice  of  the  personal  insult,  like  a  well-trained 
policeman  as  it  was,  though  he  was  ready  enough  to 
avenge  any  transgression  against  morality  or  order. 

"But  can't  I  help  you  in  any  other  way  ?  Can't  I 
help  you  to  get  out  of  this  chimney?  "  said  Tom. 

"No,"  interposed  the  truncheon;  "he  has  com  »  tc 
the  place  where  everybody  must  help  themselves  ;  and 
he  will  find  it  out,   I  hope,   before   he   has   done  with 


me." 


"Oh,  yes,"  said  Grimes,  "of  course  it's  me.  Did  I 
ask  to  be  brought  here  into  the  prison  ?  Did  I  ask  to  be 
set  to  sweep  your  foul  chimneys?  Did  I  ask  to  have 
lighted  straw  put  under  me  to  make  me  go  up?  Did  I 
ask  to  stick  fast  in  the  very  first  chimney  of  all,  because 
it  was  so  shamefully  clogged  up  with  soot?     Did  I  ask 


A   FAIRY   TALE  FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  265 

to  stay  here — I  don't  know  how  long — a  hundred  years, 
I  do  believe,  and  never  get  my  pipe,  nor  my  beer,  nor 
nothing  fit  for  a  beast,  let  alone  a  man  ?  " 

"No,"  answered  a  solemn  voice  behind.  "  No  more 
did  Tom,  when  you  behaved  to  him  in  the  very  same 
way. ' ' 

It  was  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid.  And,  when  the 
truncheon  saw  her,  it  started  bolt  upright — Attention  ! 
— and  made  such  a  low  bow,  that  if  it  had  not  been  full 
of  the  spirit  of  justice,  it  must  have  tumbled  on  its  end, 
and  probably  hurt  its  one  eye.  And  Tom  made  his 
bow,  too. 

"  Oh,  ma'am,"  he  said,  "don't  think  about  me; 
that's  all  past  and  gone,  and  good  times  and  bad  times 
and  all  times  pass  over.  But  may  not  I  help  poor  Mr. 
Grimes?  Mayn't  I  try  and  get  some  of  these  bricks 
away,  that  he  may  move  his  arms?  " 

"You  may  try,  of  course,"  she  said. 

So  Tom  pulled  and  tugged  at  the  bricks  :  but  he  could 
not  move  one.  And  then  he  tried  to  wipe  Mr.  Grimes* 
face  :  but  the  soot  would  not  come  off. 

"Oh,  dear!"  he  said.  "I  have  come  all  this  way, 
through  all  these  terrible  places,  to  help  you,  and  now  I 
am  of  no  use  at  all." 

"  You  had  best  leave  me  alone,"  said  Grimes  ;  "  you 
are  a  good-natured  forgiving  little  chap,  and  that's  truth  ; 
but  you'd  best  be  off.  The  hail's  coming  on  soon,  and 
it  will  beat  the  eyes  out  of  your  little  head." 

"What  hail?" 

"Why,  hail  that  falls  every  evening  here  ;  and,  till  it 
comes  close  to  me,  it's  like  so  much  warm  rain  :  but 
then  it  turns  to  hail  over  my  head,  and  knocks  me  about 
like  small  shot." 

"The   hail    will    never   come   any    more,"    said    the 

j  S—  Water-Babies 


266  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

strange  lady.  "  I  have  told  you  before  what  it  was.  It 
was  your  mother's  tears,  those  which  she  shed  when  she 
prayed  for  you  by  her  bedside  ;  but  your  cold  heart  froze 
it  into  hail.  But  she  is  gone  to  heaven  now,  and  will 
weep  no  more  for  her  graceless  son." 

Then  Grimes  was  silent  awhile ;  and  then  he  looked 
very  sad. 

"  So  my  old  mother's  gone,  and  I  never  there  to  speak 
to  her  !  Ah  !  a  good  woman  she  was,  and  might  have 
been  a  happy  one,  in  her  little  school  there  in  Vendale, 
if  it  hadn't  been  for  me  and  my  bad  ways." 

"Did  she  keep  the  school  in  Vendale?  "  asked  Tom. 
And  then  he  told  Grimes  all  the  story  of  his  going  to 
her  house,  and  how  she  could  not  abide  the  sight  of  a 
chimney-sweep,  and  then  how  kind  she  was,  and  how 
he  turned  into  a  water-baby. 

uAh  !"  said  Grimes,  "  good  reason  she  had  to  hate 
the  sight  of  a  chimney-sweep.  I  ran  away  from  her  and 
took  up  with  the  sweeps,  and  never  let  her  know  where 
I  was,  nor  sent  her  a  penny  to  help  her,  and  now  it's  too 
late — too  late  !  "  said  Mr.  Grimes. 

And  he  began  crying  and  blubbering  like  a  great 
baby,  till  his  pipe  dropped  out  of  his  mouth,  and  broke 
all  to  bits. 

"  Oh,  dear,  if  I  was  but  a  little  chap  in  Vendale  again, 
to  see  the  clear  beck,  and  the  apple-orchard,  and  the 
yew-hedge,  how  different  I  would  go  on  !  But  it's  too 
late  now.  So  you  go  along,  you  kind  little  chap,  and 
don't  stand  to  look  at  a  man  crying,  that's  old  enough 
to  be  your  father,  and  never  feared  the  face  of  man,  nor 
of  worse  neither.  But  I'm  beat  now,  and  beat  I  must  be. 
I've  made  my  bed,  and  I  must  lie  on  it.  Foul  I  would 
be,  and  foul  I  am,  as  an  Irish-woman  said  to  me  once  ; 
and  little  I  heeded  it.     It's  all  my  own  fault  ;  but  it's 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  267 

too  late."     And  he  cried  so  bitterly  that  Tom  began 
crying,  too. 

"Never  too  late,"  said  the  fairy,  in  such  a  strange, 
soft,  new  voice  that  Tom  looked  up  at  her  ;  and  she  was 
so  beautiful  for  the  moment  that  Tom  half  fancied  she 
was  her  sister. 

No  more  was  it  too  late.  For,  as  poor  Grimes  cried 
and  blubbered  on,  his  own  tears  did  what  his  mother's 
could  not  do,  and  Tom's  could  not  do,  and  nobody's  on 
earth  could  do  for  him  ;  for  they  washed  the  soot  off  his 
face  and  off  his  clothes  ;  and  then  they  washed  the  mor- 
tar away  from  between  the  bricks  ;  and  the  chimney 
crumbled  down  ;  and  Grimes  began  to  get  out  of  it. 

Up  jumped  the  truncheon,  and  was  going  to  hit  him 
on  the  crown  a  tremendous  thump,  and  drive  him  down 
again  like  a  cork  into  a  bottle.  But  the  strange  lady 
put  it  aside. 

Will  you  obey  me  if  I  give  you  a  chance  ?  " 
lAs  you  please,  ma'am.  You're  stronger  than  me — • 
that  I  know  too  well,  and  wiser  than  me,  I  know  too 
well  also.  And,  as  for  being  my  own  master,  I've 
fared  ill  enough  with  that  as  yet.  So  whatever  your 
ladyship  pleases  to  order  me  ;  for  I'm  beat,  and  that's  the 
truth." 

u  Be  it  so  then — you  may  come  out.  But  remember, 
disobey  me  again,  and  into  a  worse  place  still  you 
go." 

"I  beg  pardon,  ma'am,  but  I  never  disobeyed  you 
that.  I  know  of.  I  never  had  the  honor  of  setting  eyes 
upon  you  till  I  came  to  these  ugly  quarters." 

"  Never  saw  me?  Who  said  to  you,  Those  that  will 
be  foul,  foul  they  will  be?" 

Grimes  looked  up  ;  and  Tom  looked  up  too  ;  for  the 
voice  was  that  of  the  Irish-woman  who  met  them  the 


(( 


268  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

day  that  they  went  out  together  to  Harthover.  "I 
gave  you  your  warning  then  :  but  you  gave  it  yourself  a 
thousand  times  before  and  since.  Every  bad  word  that 
you  said — every  cruel  and  mean  thing  that  you  did — 
every  time  that  you  got  tipsy — every  day  that  you  went 
dirty — you  were  disobeying  me,  whether  you  knew  it  or 
not." 

"If  I'd  only  known,  ma'am " 

"You  knew  well  enough  that  you  were  disobeying 
something,  though  you  did  not  know  it  was  me.  But 
come  out  and  take  your  chance.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
your  last. ' ' 

So  Grimes  stepped  out  of  the  chimney,  and  really,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  scars  on  his  face,  he  looked  as 
clean  and  respectable  as  a  master-sweep  need  look. 

"Take  him  away,"  said  she  to  the  truncheon,  "and 
give  him  his  ticket-of-leave. " 

"And  what  is  he  to  do,  ma'am?" 

"  Get  him  to  sweep  out  the  crater  of  Etna  ;  he  will  find 
some  very  steady  men  working  out  their  time  there,  who 
will  teach  him  his  business  :  but  mind,  if  that  crater 
gets  choked  up  again,  and  there  is  an  earthquake  in  con- 
sequence, bring  them  all  to  me,  and  I  shall  investigate 
the  case  very  severely." 

So  the  truncheon  inarched  off  Mr.  Grimes,  looking  as 
meek  as  a  drowned  worm. 

And  for  aught  I  know,  or  do  not  know,  he  is  sweeping 
the  crater  of  Etna  to  this  very  day. 

"And  now,"  said  the  fairy  to  Tom,  "your  work  here 
is  done.     You  may  as  well  go  back  again." 

"I  should  be  glad  enough  to  go,"  said  Tom,  "but 
how  am  I  to  get  up  that  great  hole  again,  now  the  steam 
has  stopped  blowing?" 

4*  X  will  take  you  up  the  backstairs  :  but  I  must  bandage 


A   FAIRY   TALE   l'OR   A   LAND-BABY.  269 

your  eyes  first ;  for  I  never  allow  anybody  to  see  those 
backstairs  of  mine. ' ' 

"I  am  sure  I  shall  not  tell  anybody  about  them, 
ma'am,  if  you  bid  me  not." 

"Aha  !  So  you  think,  my  little  man.  But  you  would 
soon  forget  your  promise  if  you  got  back  into  the  land- 
world.  For,  if  people  only  once  found  out  that  you  had 
been  up  my  backstairs,  you  would  have  all  the  fine 
ladies  kneeling  to  you,  and  the  rich  men  emptying  their 
purses  before  you,  and  statesmen  offering  you  place  and 
power  ;  and  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  crying  to 
you,  '  Only  tell  us  the  great  backstairs  secret,  and  we 
will  be  your  slaves  ;  we  will  make  you  lord,  king,  em- 
peror, bishop,  archbishop,  pope,  if  you  like — only  tell  us 
the  secret  of  the  backstairs.  For  thousands  of  years  we 
have  been  paying,  and  petting,  and  obeying,  and  wor- 
shipping quacks  who  told  us  they  had  the  key  of  the 
backstairs,  and  could  smuggle  us  up  them  ;  and  in  spite 
df  all  our  disappointments,  we  will  honor,  and  glorify, 
and  adore,  and  beatify,  and  translate,  and  apotheotize 
you  likewise,  on  the  chance  of  your  knowing  something 
about  the  backstairs,  that  we  may  all  go  on  pilgrimage 
to  it ;  and,  even  if  we  cannot  get  up  it,  lie  at  the  foot 
af  it,  and  cry — 

'Ok,  backstairs, 

precious  backstairs,  comfortable  backstairs, 

invaluable  backstairs,  huma7ie  backstairs, 

requisite  backstairs,  reasonable  backstairs, 

necessary  backstairs,  long-sought  backstairs, 

go od-n attired  backstairs,  coveted  backstairs, 

cosmopolitan  backstairs,  aristocratic  backstairs, 

comprehensive  backstairs,  respectable  backstairs, 

accommodating  backstairs,  gentlemanlike  backstairs, 


270  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

well-bred  backstairs,  ladylike  backstairs , 

commercial  backstairs,  orthodox  backstairs, 

ecojiomical  backstairs,  probable  backstairs, 

practical  backstairs,  credible  backstairs, 

logical  backstairs,  demonstrable  backstairs, 

deductive  backstairs,  irrefragable  backstairs, 

potent  backstairs, 
all-but-omnipotent  backstairs, 
&c. 

Jave  us  from  the  consequences  of  our  own  actions,  and 
from  the  cruel  fairy,  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  !  '  Do 
not  you  think  that  you  would  be  a  little  tempted  then 
to  tell  what  you  know,  laddie?" 

Tom  thought  so  certainly.  u  But  why  do  they  want 
so  to  know  about  the  backstairs?"  asked  he,  being  a 
little  frightened  at  the  long  words,  and  not  understand- 
ing them  the  least ;  as,  indeed,  he  was  not  meant  to  do, 
or  you  either. 

"That  I  shall  never  tell  you.  I  never  put  things 
into  little  folks'  heads  which  are  but  too  likely  to  come 
there  of  themselves.  So  come — now  I  must  bandage 
your  eyes."  So  she  tied  the  bandage  on  his  eyes  with 
one  hand,  and  with  the  other  she  took  it  off. 

"  Now,"  she  said,  "you  are  safe  up  the  stairs."  Tom 
opened  his  eyes  very  wide,  and  his  mouth,  too  ;  for  he 
had  not,  as  he  thought,  moved  a  single  step.  But,  when 
he  looked  round  him,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  he 
was  safe  up  the  backstairs,  whatsoever  they  may  be, 
which  no  man  is  going  to  tell  you,  for  the  plain  reason 
that  no  man  knows. 

The  first  thing  which  Tom  saw  was  the  black  cedars, 
high  and  sharp  against  the  rosy  dawn  ;  and  St.  Brandan's 
Isle  reflected  double  in  the  still  broad  silver  sea.     The 


A    FAIRY    TALK    FOR    A    LAND-BABY. 


271 


good 


wind  sang  softly  in  the  cedars,  and  the  water  sang  among 

the  caves :  the  sea-birds  sang  as  they  streamed  out  into 

the  ocean,  and  the  laud-birds  as  they  built  among  the 

boughs  ;  and  the  air  was  so  full  of  song  that  it  stirred 

St.  Brandan  and  his 

hermits,    as     they 

slumbered     in     the 

shade  ;      and     they 

moved    their 

old   lips,    and 

their  morning  hymn 

amid  their  dreams. 

But   among  all    the 

sono-s     one     came 

across      the     water 

more  sweet  and  clear 

than  all  ;  for  it  was 

the  song  of  a  young 

girl's  voice. 

And  what  was  the 
song  which  she 
sang 


?    Ah,  my  little 
man,   I   am  too  old 


that 
you  too 


sing 


song, 
voung 


to 
and 

to  understand  it. 
But  have  patience, 
and  keep  your  eye 
single  and  your 
hands  clean,  and  you  will  learn  some  day  to  sing  it  your- 
self, without  needing  any  man  to  teach  you. 

And,  as  Tom  neared  the  island,  there  sat  upon  a  rock 
the  most  graceful  creature  that  ever  was  seen,  looking 
down,  with  her  chin  upon  her  hand,  and  paddling  with 


272  THE  WATER-BABIES. 

her  feet  in  the  water.     And  when  they  came  to  her  she 

looked  up,  and  behold  it  was  Ellie. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Ellie,"  said  he,  "  how  you  are  grown  !  " 
"  Oh,  Tom,"  said  she,  "how  you  are  grown,  too  ! " 
And  no  wonder ;  they  were  both  quite  grown  up — he 

into  a  tall  man,  and  she  into  a  beautiful  woman. 

"  Perhaps  I  may  be  grown,"  she  said.      "I  have  had 

time  enough  ;  for  I  have  been  sitting  here  waiting  for 

you  many  a  hundred  years,  till  I  thought  you  were  never 

coming." 

"  Many  a  hundred  years?  "  thought  Tom  ;  but  he  had 

seen  so  much  in  his  travels  that  he  had  quite  given  up 

being  astonished  ;  and,  indeed,  he  could  think  of  nothing 

but  Ellie.      So  he  stood  and  looked  at  Ellie,  and  Ellie 

looked  at  him  ;  and  they  liked  the  employment  so  much 

that  they  stood  and  looked  for  seven  years  more,  and 

neither  spoke  nor  stirred. 

At  last  they  heard  the  fairy  say  :  "Attention,  children. 

Are  you  never  going  to  look  at  me  again  ?  " 

"We  have  been  looking  at  you  all  this  while,"  they 

said.  And  so  thev  thought  thev  had  been. 
"  Then  look  at  me  once  more,"  said  she. 
They  looked — and  both  of  them  cried  out  at  once, 

"Oh,  who  are  you,  after  all?" 

"  You  are  our  dear  Mrs.  Doasyouwouldbedoneby." 
"  No,  you  are  good  Mrs.  Bedonebyasyoudid  ;  but  you 

are  grown  quite  beautiful  now  !  " 

"  To  you,"  said  the  fairy.      "  But  look  again." 
"You  are   Mother  Carey,"  said  Tom,  in  a  very  low, 

solemn  voice  ;   for  he  had  found  out  something  which 

made  him  very  happy,  and  yet  frightened  him  more  than 

all  that  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  But  you  are  grown  quite  young  again." 
"  To  you,"  said  the  fairy.      "  Look  again." 


A   FAIRY   TALE   FOR  A   LAND-BABY.  273 

"You  are  the  Irish -woman  who  met  me  the  day  I 
went  to  Harthover  !  " 

And  when  they  looked  she  was  neither  of  them,  and 
yet  all  of  them  at  once. 

u  My  name  is  written  in  my  eyes,  if  you  have  eyes  to 
see  it  there." 

And  they  looked  into  her  great,  deep,  soft  eyes,  and 
they  changed  again  and  again  into  every  hue,  as  the 
light  changes  in  a  diamond. 

' '  Now  read  my  name, ' '  said  she,  at  last. 

And  her  eyes  flashed,  for  one  moment,  clear,  white, 
blazing  light :  but  the  children  could  not  read  her 
name  ;  for  they  were  dazzled,  and  hid  their  faces  in  their 
hands. 

"  Not  yet,  young  things,  not  yet,"  said  she,  smiling  ; 
and  then  she  turned  to  Ellie. 

"  You  may  take  him  home  with  you  now  on  Sundays, 
Ellie.  He  has  won  his  spurs  in  the  great  battle,  and  be- 
come fit  to  go  with  you  and  be  a  man  ;  because  he  has 
done  the  thing  he  did  not  like." 

So  Tom  went  home  with  Ellie  on  Sundays,  and  some- 
times on  week-days,  too  ;  and  he  is  now  a  great  man  of 
science,  and  can  plan  railroads,  and  steam-engines,  and 
electric  telegraphs,  and  rifled  guns,  and  so  forth  ;  and 
knows  everything  about  everything,  except  why  a  hen's 
egg  don' t  turn  into  a  crocodile,  and  two  or  three  other 
little  things  which  no  one  will  know  till  the  coming  of 
the  Cocqcigrues.  And  all  this  from  what  he  learnt  when 
he  was  a  water-baby,  underneath  the  sea. 

u  And  of  course  Tom  married  Ellie  ?  " 

My  dear  child,  what  a  silly  notion  !  Don't  you  know 
that  no  one  ever  marries  in  a  fairy  tale,  under  the  rank 
of  a  prince  or  a  princess? 

"  And  Tom's  dos?" 


274 


THE  WATER-BABIES. 


Oh,  you  may  see  him  any  clear  night  in  July  ;  for  the 
old  dog-star  was  so  worn  out  by  the  last  three  hot  sum- 
mers that  there  have  been  no  dog-days  since  ;  so  that 
they  had  to  take  him  down  and  put  Tom's  dog  up  in 
his  place.  Therefore,  as  new  brooms  sweep  clean,  we 
may  hope  for  some  warm  weather  this  year.  And  that 
is  the  end  of  my  story. 


A  FAIRY  TALE   FOR   A   LAND-BABY.  2/5 


MORAL. 

And  now,  my  dear  little  man,  what  should  we  learn  from 
this  parable  ? 

We  should  learn  thirty-seven  or  thirty-nine  things,  I  am 
not  exactly  sure  which  :  but  one  thing,  at  least,  we  may  learn, 
and  that  is  this — when  we  see  efts  in  the  pond,  never  to  throw 
stones  at  them,  or  catch  them  with  crooked  pins,  or  put  them 
into  vivariums  with  sticklebacks,  that  the  sticklebacks  may 
prick  them  in  their  poor  little  stomachs,  and  make  them  jump 
out  of  the  glass  into  somebody's  zvork-box,  and  so  come  to  a 
bad  end.  For  these  efts  are  nothing  else  but  the  water-babies 
who  are  stupid  and  dirty,  and  will  not  learn  their  lessons  and 
keep  themselves  clean  ;  and,  therefore  [as  comparative  anato- 
mists zvill  tell  you  fifty  years  hence,  though  they  are  not 
learned  enough  to  tell  you  nozv),  their  skulls  grow  flat,  their 
jaws  grow  out,  and  their  drains  grow  small,  and  their  tails 
grow  long,  and  they  lose  all  their  ribs  {which  I  am  sure  you 
woidd  not  like  to  do),  and  their  skins  grow  dirty  and  spotted, 
and  they  never  get  into  the  clear  rivers,  much  less  into  the 
great  wide  sea,  but  hang  about  in  dirty  ponds,  and  live  in 
the  mud,  and  eat  zvorms,  as  they  deserve  to  do. 

But  that  is  no  reason  why  you  should  ill-use  them :  but 
only  why  you  should  pity  them,  and  be  kind  to  them,  and  hope 
that  some  day  they  will  wake  up,  and  be  ashamed  of  their 
nasty,  dirty,  lazy,  stupid  life,  and  try  to  amend,  and  become 
something  better  once  more.  For,  perhaps,  if  they  do  so,  then 
after  379,423  years,  nine  months,  thirteen  days,  two  hours t 


276  THE   WATER-BABIES. 

and  twenty-one  minutes  [for  aught  that  appears  to  the  con- 
trary),  if  they  work  very  hard  and  wash  very  hard  all  thai 
time,  their  brains  may  grozv  bigger,  and  their  jaws  grow 
smaller,  and  their  ribs  come  back,  and  their  tails  witlier  off, 
and  they  will  turn  into  water-babies  again,  and  perhaps  after 
that  into  land-babies  ;  and  after  that  perliaps  into  grown  men. 

Yon  knoiv  they  woii't?  Very  well,  I  daresay  yon  know 
best.  But,  you  see,  some  folks  have  a  great  liking  for  those 
poor  little  efts.  They  never  did  anybody  any  harm,  or  could 
if  they  tried ;  and  their  only  fault  is,  that  they  do  no  good — 
any  more  than  some  thousands  of  their  betters.  But  what 
with  ducks,  and  ivhat  with  pike,  and  what  with  sticklebacks, 
and  what  with  zuater-beetles,  and  what  witli  naughty  boys, 
they  are  "  sae  sair  hadden  doun,"  as  the  Scotsmen  say,  that  it 
is  a  ivonder  how  they  live  ;  and  some  folks  cant  help  hoping, 
with  good  Bishop  Butler,  that  they  may  have  another  cha7ice, 
to  make  things  fair  and  even,  someiuhcre,  somewhen,  some- 
how. 

Meanwhile,  do  you  learn  your  lessons,  and  thank  God  that 
you  nave  plenty  of  cold  zvater  to  wash  in ;  and  wash  in  it 
too,  like  a  true  Englishman.  And  then,  if  my  story  is  not 
true,  something  better  is  ;  and  if  I  am  not  qtdte  right,  still  you 
will  be,  as  long  as  you  stick  to  hard  work  and  cold  water. 

But  remember  alzvays,  as  I  told  you  at  first,  that  this  is  all 
a  fairy  tale,  and  only  fun  and  pretence :  and,  therefore,  you 
wre  not  to  believe  a  word  of  it,  even  if  it  is  true. 


"I  heard  a  thousand  blended  notes> 
While  in  a  grove  I  sate  reclined; 
In  that  sweet  mood  when  pleasant  thoughts 
Bring  sad  thoughts  to  the  mind. 

"To  her  fair  works  did  Nature  link 

The  human  soul  that  through  me  ran; 
And  much  it  grieved  my  heart  to  think, 
What  man  has  made  of  man." 

— Wordsworth. 


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Children's  Gift  Series 

A  new  series  of  the  most  famous  children's  classics,  in  new 
and  attractive  bindings  with  full  page  illustrations  in  color 
and  black  and  white.     Cloth,  4to,  75  cents  each. 

Alice's  Adventures  in  Wonderland. — Through  the  Looking 
Glass  and  What  Alice  Found  There. — A  Child's  Garden 
op  Verses. — Mother  Goose's  Rhymes,  Jingles  and  Fairy 
Tales. — Swiss  Family  Robinson. — The  Adventures  of 
Robinson  Crusoe. — Grimm's  Fairy  Tales. — Andersen's 
Fairy  Tales. — Bible  Pictures  and  Stories. — Animal  Sto- 
ries for  Little  People. 


One-Syllable  Series 

For  Young  Readers 

Embracing  popular  works  arranged  for  the  young  folks  in 
words  of  one  syllable.  With  numerous  illustrations  by 
the  best  artists.  Handsomely  bound,  with  illuminated 
covers.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

liEsop's  Fables. — A  Child's  Life  of  Christ. — The  Adventures 
op  Robinson  Crusoe. — Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress. — 
Swiss  Family  Robinson. — Gulliver's  Travels. — A  Child's 
Story  of  the  Old  Testament. — A  Child's  Story  of  the 
New  Testament. — Bible  Stories  for  Little  Children.— 
The  Story  of  Jesus. 


8         HENRY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

Altemus'   Illustrated 

Dainty  Series  of  Choice  Gift  Books 

Bound  in  half-white  vellum,  illuminated  sides,  unique  designs 
in  gold  and  colors,  with  numerous  half-tone  illustrations. 
Price,  50  cents  each. 

The  Silver  Buckle.     By  M.  Nataline  Crumpton 

Charles  Dickens'  Children  Stories. 

The  Children's  Shakespeare. 

Young  Eobin  Hood.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

Honor  Bright.     By  Mary  C.  Rowsell. 

The   Voyage  of  the  Mary  Adair.     By  Frances  E.  Crompton. 

The  Kingfisher's  Egg.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 

Tattine.     By  Ruth  Ogden. 

The   Doings   of   a  Dear  Little   Couple.     By  Mary  D.   Brine. 

Our  Soldier  Boy.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

The  Little  Skipper.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 

Little  Gervaise  and  Other  Stories. 

The  Christmas  Fairy.     By  John  Strange  Winter. 

Molly  the  Drummer  Boy.     By  Harriet  T.  Comstock. 

How  a  "Dear  Little  Couple"  Went  Abroad.     By  Mary  D. 

Brine. 
The  Rose-Carnation.     By  Frances  E.  Crompton. 
Mother's  Little  Man.     By  Mary  D.  Brine. 
Little  Swan  Maidens.     By  Frances  E.  Crompton. 
Little  Lady  Val.     By  Evelyn  Everett  Green. 
A  Young  Hero.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 
Queen  of  the  Day.     By  L.  T.  Meade. 
That  Little  French  Baby.     By  John  Strange  Winter. 
The  Powder  Monkey.     By  G.  Manville  Fenn. 
The  Doll  that  Talked.     By  Tudor  Jenks. 
What  Charlie  Found  to  Do.     By  Amanda  M.  Douglas. 


iHENBY  ALTEMUS  COMPANY'S  PUBLICATIONS.        9 

Altemus' 

Young  Folks  Puzzle  Pictures'  Series 

A  new  series  for  young  people,  including  numerous  Puzzle 
Pictures  by  the  best  artists.  Full  cloth,  illuminated  cover 
design.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

Mother  Goose's  Puzzle  Pictures. 

The  Tale  of  Peter  Babbit,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

Animal  Tales,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

The  Night  Before  Christmas,  with  Puzzle  Pictures. 

Dog  Tales,  Cat  Tales  and  Other  Tales,  with  Puzzle  Picturfs 


Altemus'  Illustrated 

Mother  Stories  Series 

An  entirely  new  series,  including  the  best  stories  that  mothers 
can  tell  their  children.  Handsomely  printed  and  profusely 
illustrated.     Ornamental  cloth.     Price,  50  cents  each. 

Mother  Stories.     89  illustrations. 

Mother  Nursery  Ehymes  and  Tales.     135  illustrations. 

Mother  Fairy  Tales.     117  illustrations. 

Mother  Nature  Stories.     97  illustrations. 

Mother  Stories  from  the  Old  Testament.     45  illustrations. 

Mother  Stories  from  the  New  Testament.    45  illustrations. 

Mother  Bedtime  Stories.     86  illustrations. 

Mother  Animal  Stories.    92  illustrations. 

Mother  Bird  Stories.     131  illustrations. 

Mother  Santa  Claus  Stories.    91  illustrations. 


The    Motor    Boat    Club    Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

The  keynote  of  these  books  is  manliness.  The  stories  are  wonder- 
fully entertaining,  and  they  are  at  the  same  time  sound  and  whole- 
some. No  boy  will  willingly  lay  down  an  unfinished  book  in  this 
series. 

i     THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  OF  THE  KENNEBEC;    Or,  The 
Secret  of  Smugglers'  Island. 

2  THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  AT  NANTUCKET ;    Or,  The  Mys- 

tery of  the  Dunstan  Heir. 

3  THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  OFF  LONG  ISLAND;   Or,  A  Dar- 

ing Marine  Game  at  Racing  Speed. 

4  THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  AND  THE  WIRELESS;    Or,  The 

Dot,  Dash  and  Dare  Cruise. 

5  THE    MOTOR    BOAT   CLUB    IN    FLORIDA;     Or,   Laying   the 

Ghost  of  Alligator  Swamp. 

6  THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  AT  THE  GOLDEN  GATE;   Or,  A 

Thrilling  Capture  in  the  Great  Fog. 

7  THE  MOTOR  BOAT  CLUB  ON  THE  GREAT  LAKES;    Or, 

The  Flying  Dutchman  of  the  Big  Fresh  Water. 

Goth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The  Range  and  Grange  Hustlers 

By  FRANK  GEE  PATCHIN 

Have  you  any  idea  of  the  excitements,  the  glories  of  life  on  great 
ranches  in  the'  West  ?  Any  bright  boy  will  "devour"  the  books  of 
this  series,  once  he  has  made  a  start  with  the  first  volume. 

1  THE  RANGE  AND  GRANGE  HUSTLERS  ON  THE  RANCH  : 

Or,  The  Boy  Shepherds  of  the  Great  Divide. 

2  THE  RANGE  AND  GRANGE  HUSTLERS'  GREATEST 

ROUND-UP;     Or,    Pitting    Their    Wits    Against   a    Packers' 
Combine. 

3  THE  RANGE  AND  GRANGE  HUSTLERS  ON  THE  PLAINS; 

Or,  Following  the  Steam   Plows  Across  the  Prairie, 

4  THE    RANGE    AND    GRANGE    HUSTLERS    AT    CHICAGO; 

Or.  The  Conspiracy  of  the  Wheat  Pit. 

Goth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Submarine    Boys    Series 

By  VICTOR  G.  DURHAM 

These  splendid  books  for  boys  and  girls  deal  with  life  aboard  sub- 
marine torpedo  boats,  and  with  the  adventures  of  the  young  crew, 
and  possess,  in  addition  to  the  author's  surpassing  knack  of  story- 
telling, a  great  educational  value  for  all  young  readers. 

i     THE  SUBMARINE  BOYS  ON   DUTY;    Or,  Life  on  a  Diving 
Torpedo  Boat. 

2  THE  SUBMARINE  BOYS'  TRIAL  TRIP;    Or,  "Making  Good" 

as  Young  Experts. 

3  THE   SUBMARINE    BOYS    AND    THE   MIDDIES;     Or,   The 

Prize   Detail  at  Annapolis. 

4  THE   SUBMARINE   BOYS   AND   THE   SPIES;     Or,   Dodging 

the  Sharks  of  the  Deep. 

5  THE   SUBMARINE   BOYS'    LIGHTNING   CRUISE;    Or,   The 

Young  Kings  of  the  Deep. 

6  THE    SUBMARINE    BOYS    FOR    THE    FLAG;     Or,    Deeding 

Their  Lives  to  Uncle  Sam. 

7  THE  SUBMARINE  BOYS  AND  THE  SMUGGLERS;  Or, 

Breaking  Up  the   New  Jersey  Customs  Frauds. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The  Square  Dollar  Boys  Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

The  reading  boy  will  be  a  voter  within  a  few  years  J  these  books 
are  bound  to  make  him  think,  and  when  he  casts  his  vote  he  will 
do  it  more  intelligently  for  having  read  these  volumes. 

1     THE  SQUARE  DOLLAR  BOYS  WAKE  UP;    Or,  Fighting  the 

Trolley  Franchise  Steal. 
2.     THE  SQUARE  DOLLAR  BOYS  SMASH  THE  RING;    Or,  In 

the  Lists  Against  the  Crooked  Land  Deal. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c, 


The  College  Girls  Series 

By  JESSIE  GRAHAM  FLOWER,  A.M. 

1  GRACE  HARLOWES  FIRST  YEAR  AT  OVERTON  COLLEGE. 

2  GRACE  HARLOWES  SECOND  YEAR  AT  OVERTON  COLLEGE. 

3  GRACE  HARLOWES  THIRD  YEAR  AT  OVERTON  COLLEGE. 

4  GRACE  HARLOWE'S  FOURTH  YEAR  AT  OVERTON  COLLEGE. 

5  GRACE  HARLOWE'S  RETURN  TO  OVERTON  CAMPUS. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c 


Pony    Rider    Boys    Series 

By  FRANK  GEE  PATCHIN 

These  tales   may   be  aptly   described   the   best  books    for   boys  and   girls. 

1  THE  PONY  RIDER  BOYS  IN  THE  ROCKIES;  Or,  The  Secret  of  the 
Lost  Claim.— 2  THE  PONY  RIDER  BOYS  IN  TEXAS;  Or,  The 
Veiled  Riddle  of  the  Plains.— 3  THE  PONY  RIDER  BOYS  IN 
MONTANA:  Or,  The  Mystery  of  the  Old  Custer  Trail.— 4  THE 
PONY  RIDER  BOYS  IN  THE  OZARKS;  Or,  The  Secret  of  Ruby 
Mountain.— a  THE  PONY  RIDER  BOYS  IN  THE  ALKALI;  Or, 
Finding  a  Key  to  the  Desert  Maze.— 6  THE  PONY  RIDER  BOYS 
IN  NEW  MEXICO;  Or,  The  End  of  the  Silver  Trail.— 7  THE  PONY 
RIDER  BOYS  IN  THE  GRAND  CANYON;  Or,  The  Mystery  of 
Bright  Angel  Gulch. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The  Boys  of  Steel  Series 

By  JAMES  R.  MEARS 

Each  book  presents  vivid  picture  of  this  great  industry.     Each  story 
is  full   of  adventure  and  fascination. 

1  THE  IRON  BOYS  IN  THE  MINES;  Or,  Starting  at  the  Bottom  of 
the  Shaft.— 2  THE  IRON  BOYS  AS  FOREMEN;  Or,  Heading  the 
Diamond  Drill  Shift— 3  THE  IRON  BOYS  ON  THE  ORE  BOATS; 
Or,  Roughing  It  on  the  Great  Lakes.— 4  THE  IRON  BOYS  IN  THE 
STEEL  MILLS;    Or,    Beginning  Anew   in   the  Cinder   Pits. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c 


The  Madge  Morton  Books 

By  AMY  D.  V.  CHALMERS 

1  MADGE  MORTON— CAPTAIN    OF    THE    MERRY    MAID. 

2  MADGE  MORTON'S   SECRET. 

3  MADGE  MORTONS    TRUST. 

4  MADGE  MORTONS    VICTORY. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c 


West     Point     Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

The    principal    characters    in    these    narratives    are    manly,    young 
Americans  whose  doings  will  inspire  all  boy  readers, 
i     DICK   PRESCOTT'S    FIRST   YEAR   AT   WEST    POINT;     Or, 

Two  Chums  in  the  Cadet  Gray. 
2.     DICK  PRESCOTT'S  SECOND  YEAR  AT  WEST  POINT;    Or, 

Finding  the  Glory  of  the  Soldier's  Life. 

3  DICK   PRESCOTT'S   THIRD   YEAR  AT   WEST   POINT;    Or, 

Standing  Firm  for  Flag  and  Honor. 

4  DICK  PRESCOTT'S  FOURTH  YEAR  AT  WEST  POINT;    Or, 

Ready  to  Drop  the  Gray  for  Shoulder  Straps. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Annapolis      Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

The  Spirit  of  the  new  Navy  is  delightfully  and  truthfully  depicted 
in  these  volumes. 

1  DAVE  DARRIN'S  FIRST  YEAR  AT  ANNAPOLIS;    Or,  Two 

Plebe  Midshipmen  at  the  U.  S.  Naval  Academy. 

2  DAVE    DARRIN'S    SECOND    YEAR    AT    ANNAPOLIS;     Or, 

Two  Midshipmen  as  Naval  Academy  "Youngsters." 

3  DAVE  DARRIN'S  THIRD  YEAR  AT  ANNAPOLIS  ;    Or,  Lead- 

ers of  the  Second  Class  Midshipmen. 

4  DAVE  DARRIN'S  FOURTH  YEAR  AT  ANNAPOLIS;  Or, 

Headed  for  Graduation  and  the  Big  Cruise. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The  Young  Engineers  Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

The  heroes  of  these  stories  are  known  to  readers  of  the  High 
School  Boys  Series.  In  this  new  series  Tom  Reade  and  Harry 
Hazelton  prove  worthy  of  all  the  traditions  of  Dick  &  Co. 

1  THE  YOUNG  ENGINEERS  IN  COLORADO  ;    Or,  At  Railroad 

Building  in  Earnest. 

2  THE  YOUNG  ENGINEERS  IN  ARIZONA;    Or,  Laying  Tracks 

on  the  "Man-Killer"  Quicksand. 

3  THE  YOUNG  ENGINEERS   IN   NEVADA;    Or,   Seeking  For- 

tune on  the  Turn  of  a  Pick. 

4  THE   YOUNG   ENGINEERS   IN    MEXICO;     Or,   Fighting  the 

Mine  Swindlers. 

Qoth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Boys   of   the   Army   Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

These  books  breathe  the  life  and  spirit  of  the  United  States  Army 
of  to-day,  and  the  life,  just  as  it  is,  is  described  by  a  master  pen. 

i  UNCLE  SAM'S  BOYS  IN  THE  RANKS;  Or,  Two  Recruits  in 
the  United  States  Army. 

z  UNCLE  SAM'S  BOYS  ON  FIELD  DUTY;  Or,  Winning  Cor- 
poral's Chevrons. 

3  UNCLE  SAM'S  BOYS  AS  SERGEANTS ;    Or,  Handling  Their 

First  Real  Commands. 

4  UNCLE  SAM'S   BOYS  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES;    Or,  Follow- 

ing the  Flag  Against  the  Moros. 

(Other  volumes  to  follow  rapidly.) 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


Battleship    Boys    Series 

By  FRANK  GEE  PATCHIN 

These  stories  throb  with  the  life  of  young  Americans  on  to-day's 
huge  drab  Dreadnaughts. 

1  THE  BATTLESHIP  BOYS  AT  SEA;    Or,  Two  Apprentices  in 

Uncle  Sam's  Navy. 

2  THE    BATTLESHIP    BOYS     FIRST    STEP    UPWARD;     Or, 

Winning  Their  Grades  as  Petty  Officers. 

3  THE    BATTLESHIP    BOYS    IN    FOREIGN    SERVICE;    Or, 

Earning  New  Ratings  in  European  Seas. 

4  THE   BATTLESHIP   BOYS   IN   THE  TROPICS;    Or,  Uphold- 

ing the  American  Flag  in  a  Honduras  Revolution. 
(Other  volumes  to  follozv  rapidly.) 

Goth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The  Meadow-Brook  Girls  Series 

By  JANET  ALDRIDGE 

Real  live  stories  pulsing  with  the  vibrant  atmosphere'  of  outdoor 
life. 

1  THE  MEADOW-BROOK   GIRLS   UNDER   CANVAS. 

2  THE  MEADOW-BROOK   GIRLS   ACROSS   COUNTRY. 

3  THE  MEADOW-BROOK    GIRLS   AFLOAT. 

4  THE  MEADOW-BROOK   GIRLS   IN   THE   HILLS. 
3    THE  MEADOW-BROOK   GIRLS   BY   THE   SEA. 

6    THE   MEADOW-BROOK   GIRLS   ON   THE   TENNIS   COURTS. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


High    School    Boys    Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

In  this  series  of  bright,  crisp  books  a  new  note  has  been  struck. 

Boys  of  every  age  under  sixty  will  be  interested  in  these  fascinat- 
ing volumes. 

i     THE   HIGH    SCHOOL   FRESHMEN;     Or,   Dick  &  Co.'s   First 
Year  Pranks  and  Sports. 

2  THE    HIGH    SCHOOL    PITCHER;     Or,    Dick    &    Co.    on    the 

Gridley  Diamond. 

3  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  LEFT  END ;    Or,  Dick  &  Co.  Grilling  on 

the  Football  Gridiron. 

4  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  CAPTAIN  OF  THE  TEAM ;    Or,  Dick  & 

Co.  Leading  the  Athletic  Vanguard. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

Grammar   School    Boys    Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

This  series  of  stories,  based  on  the  actual  doings  of  grammar 
school  boys,  comes  near  to  the  heart  of  the  average  American  boy. 

1  THE  GRAMMAR   SCHOOL  BOYS   OF  GRIDLEY;    Or,   Dick 

&  Co.  Start  Things  Moving. 

2  THE  GRAMMAR   SCHOOL   BOYS   SNOWBOUND;    Or,   Dick 

&  Co.  at  Winter  Sports. 

3  THE    GRAMMAR    SCHOOL    BOYS    IN    THE    WOODS ;     Or, 

Dick  &  Co.  Trail  Fun  and  Knowledge. 

4  THE  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL  BOYS  IN  SUMMER  ATHLETICS  ; 

Or,  Dick  &  Co.  Make  Their  Fame  Secure. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

H  igh  School  Boy  s'  Vacation  Series 

By  H.  IRVING  HANCOCK 

"Give  us  more  Dick  Prescott  books!" 

This  has  been  the  burden  of  the  cry  from  young  readers  of  the 
country  over.  Almost  numberless  letters  have  been  received  by  the 
publishers,  making  this  eager  demand :  for  Dick  Prescott,  Dave  Dar- 
rin,  Tom  Reade,  and  the  other  members  of  Dick  &  Co.  are  the  most 
popular  high  school  boys  in  the  land.  Boys  will  alternately  thrill 
and  chuckle  when  reading  these  splendid  narratives. 

1  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  BOYS'  CANOE  CLUB;    Or,  Dick  &  Co.'s 

Rivals  on  Lake  Pleasant. 

2  THE  HIGH   SCHOOL  BOYS   IN   SUMMER   CAMP;    Or,   The 

Dick  Prescott  Six  Training  for  the  Gridley  Eleven. 

3  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  BOYS'  FISHING  TRIP;    Or,  Dick  &  Co. 

in  the  Wilderness. 

4  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  BOYS'  TRAINING  HIKE;    Or,  Dick  & 

Co.  Making  Themselves  "Hard  as  Nails." 

Goth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


The   Circus    Boys   Series 

By  EDGAR  B.  P.  DARLINGTON 

Mr.  Darlington's  books  breathe  forth  every  phase  of  an  intensely 
interesting  and  exciting  life. 

i     THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  ON  THE  FLYING  RINGS;    Or,  Making 
the  Start  in  the  Sawdust  Life. 

2  THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT;    Or,  Win- 

ning New   Laurels  on  the  Tanbark. 

3  THE    CIRCUS    BOYS    IN    DIXIE    LAND;     Or,    Winning    the 

Plaudits  of  the  Sunny  South. 

4  THE  CIRCUS  BOYS  ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI;    Or,  Afloat  with 

the  Big  Show  on  the  Big   River. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

The   High  School  Girls   Series 

By  JESSIE  GRAHAM  FLOWER,  A.  M. 

These'  breezy  stories  of  the  American   High  School  Girl  take  the 
reader  fairly  by  storm. 

1  GRACE    HARLOWE'S    PLEBE   YEAR    AT    HIGH    SCHOOL; 

Or,  The  Merry  Doings  of  the  Oakdale  Freshman  Girls. 

2  GRACE      HARLOWE'S      SOPHOMORE      YEAR      AT      HIGH 

SCHOOL;    Or,  The  Record  of  the  Girl  Chums  in  Work  and 
Athletics. 

3  GRACE  HARLOWE;S  JUNIOR   YEAR  AT   HIGH   SCHOOL;. 

Or,  Fast  Friends  in  the  Sororities. 

4  GRACE   HARLOWE'S    SENIOR   YEAR  AT   HIGH    SCHOOL; 

Or,  The  Parting  of  the  Ways. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 

The    Automobile    Girls    Series 

By  LAURA  DENT  CRANE 

No   girl's   library — no    family   book-case   can  be'   considered   at   all 
complete  unless  it  contains  these  sparkling  twentieth-century  books. 

1  THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  AT  NEWPORT;  Or,  Watching  the  Sum- 
mer Parade.— 2  THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  IN  THE  BERKSHIRES; 
Or,  The  Ghost  of  Lost  Man's  Trail.— 3  THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS 
ALONG  THE  HUDSON:  Or,  Fighting  Fire  in  Sleepy  Hollow.— 
4  THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  AT  CHICAGO;  Or,  Winning  Out 
.Against  Heavy  Odds.— 5  THE  AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  AT  PALM 
BEACH;  Or,  Proving  Their  Mettle  Under  Southern  Skies.— 6  THE 
AUTOMOBILE  GIRLS  AT  WASHINGTON:  Or.  Checkmating  the. 
Plots  of  Foreign  Spies. 

Cloth,  Illustrated  Price,  per  Volume,  50c. 


THE 

WHITE  HOUSE 

SM  FRANCISCO 


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